I-NRLF 


B   >4   M37  35b 


•Books,  like  i-hu-kens.  should  come  home  to  roost." 


PRIVATE  LIBRARY 

....OF.... 

E.  i.  McCORMAC. 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


IN  MEMORY  OF 

PROFESSOR 
EUGENE  I.  McCORMAC 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 
SANTA  CRUZ 


E 

332. 


American 


EDITED   BY 


JOHtf  T.  MOKSE,  JR. 


American  £tatc£mat 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON 


JOHN  "f.  MORSE,  JR. 

A  llv 


BOSTON 
IIOUGHTON,   MIFFLTN  AND  COMPANY 

New  York:    11   East  Seventeenth  Street 


1883 


Copyright,  1883, 
Br  JOHN  T.  MORSE,  JR. 


All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riversifle  Press,  Cambridge: 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  II.  0.  Houghton  &  Co. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I.  PAOT 

YOUTH 1 

CHAPTER  II. 
IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  BURGESSES 17 

CHAPTER  III. 
IN  CONGRESS 26 

CHAPTER  IV. 
AGAIN  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  BURGESSES  .        .        .        .41 

CHAPTER  V. 
GOVERNOR  OF  VIRGINIA 55 

CHAPTER  VI. 
IN  CONGRESS  AGAIN 70 

CHAPTER  VII. 
MINISTER  TO  FRANCE 77 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  —  DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS      .        .    96 

CHAPTER  IX. 
SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  —  GROWTH  OF  DISSENSIONS    .  Ill 


vi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  X.  PAOB 

SECRETARY  OF  STATE. — FOREIGN  AFFAIRS         .        .146 

CHAPTER  XL 
IN  RETREAT 166 

CHAPTER  XII. 
VICE-PRESIDENT 173 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

•  PRESIDENT  :  FIRST  TERM.  —  OFFICES.  —  CALLENDER  .  209 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

*  PRESIDENT  :  FIRST  TERM.  —  LOUISIANA        .        .        .231 

CHAPTER  XV. 

•  PRESIDENT  :    FIRST    TERM.  —  IMPEACHMENTS.  —  RE- 

ELECTION         259 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

~"  PRESIDENT  :    SECOND    TERM.  —  RANDOLPH'S  DEFEC- 
TION.—  BURR'S  TREASON 272 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
-PRESIDENT:  SECOND  TERM. —  EMBARGO      .        .        .  286 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

-  AT  MONTICELLO  :  POLITICAL  OPINIONS        .        .        .321 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
AT  MONTICELLO  :  PERSONAL  MATTERS.  —  DEATH        .  331 

INDEX  .  345 


THOMAS  JEFFEBSOK 


CHAPTER  I. 

YOUTH. 

LITTLE  more  than  a  century  ago  a  civilized 
nation  without  an  aristocracy  was  a  pitiful 
spectacle  scarcely  to  be  witnessed  in  the  world. 
The  American  colonists,  having  brought  no 
dukes  and  barons  with  them  to  the  rugged  wil- 
derness, fell  in  some  sort  under  a  moral  com- 
pulsion to  set  up  an  imitation  of  the  genuine 
creatures,  and  as  their  best  makeshift  in  the 
emergency  they  ennobled  in  a  kind  of  local 
fashion  the  richer  Virginian  planters.  These 
gentlemen  were  not  without  many  qualifica- 
tions for  playing  the  agreeable  part  assigned 
to  them  ;  they  gambled  recklessly  over  cards 
and  at  the  horse-racings  and  cock-fightings 
which  formed  their  chief  pleasures  ;  they  ca- 
roused to  excess  at  taverns  and  at  each  other's 
houses ;  they  were  very  extravagant,  very  lazy, 
very  arrogant,  and  fully  persuaded  of  their 


2  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

superiority  over  their  fellows,  whom  they  felt 
it  their  duty  and  their  privilege  to  direct  and 
govern ;  they  had  large  landed  estates  and  pre- 
served the  custom  of  entailing  them  in  favor  of 
eldest  sons ;  they  were  great  genealogists,  and 
steeped  in  family  pride;  they  occupied  houses 
which  were  very  capacious  and  noted  for  un- 
limited hospitality,  but  which  were  also  ill-kept 
and  barren ;  they  were  fond  of  field-sports  and 
were  admirable  horsemen;  they  respected  the 
code  of  honor  and  quarrelled  and  let  blood  as 
gentlemen  should ;  they  were  generous,  cour- 
ageous and  high-spirited ;  a  few  of  them  were 
liberally  educated  and  well-read.  We  all  know 
that,  when  the  days  of  trial  came,  the  best  of 
them  were  little  inferior  to  the  best  men  whose 
names  are  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  any 
people  in  the  world ; 1  though  when  one  studies 
the  antecedents  and  social  surroundings  whence 
these  noble  figures  emerged,  it  seems  as  if  for 
once  men  had  gathered  grapes  from  thorns,  and 
figs  from  thistles. 

Rather  upon  the  outskirts  than  actually 
within  the  sacred  limits  of  this  charmed  circle, 
Thomas  Jefferson  was  born  on  April  13,  1743. 

1  It  should  be  remembered  that  by  good  rights  neither 
Washington,  Jefferson,  nor  even  Madison,  before  they  be- 
came distinguished,  would  have  been  entitled  to  take  rank  in 
the  exclusive  coterie  of  the  best  Virginian  families. 


YOUTH. 

The  first  American  Jefferson  was  dimly  sup- 
posed to  have  immigrated  from  Snowdon,  in 
Wales ;  such  at  least  was  the  family  "  tradi- 
tion ; "  while  the  only  thing  certainly  to  be 
predicated  concerning  him  is  that  he  was  one 
of  the  earliest  settlers,  having  arrived  in  Vir- 
ginia before  the  Mayflower  had  brought  the 
first  cargo  of  Puritans  to  the  New  England 
coast.  Peter  Jefferson,  the  father  of  Thomas, 
gave  the  family  its  first  impetus  on  the  road 
towards  worldly  success.  He  was  a  man  of 
superb  physique  and  of  correspondingly  vigor- 
ous intellect  and  enterprising  temper.  In  early 
life  he  became  very  intimate  with  William 
Randolph  of  Tuckahoe;  he  "  patented  "  in  the 
wilderness  a  thousand  acres  of  land  adjoin- 
ing the  larger  estate  of  Randolph,  bought  from 
his  friend  four  hundred  acres  more,  paying 
therefor  the  liberal  price  of  "  Henry  Weather- 
bourne's  biggest  bowl  of  arrack  punch,"  as  is 
jovially  nominated  in  the  deed ;  and  further 
cemented  the  alliance  by  marrying  William's 
cousin,  Jane  Randolph,  in  1738.  The  distinc- 
tion which  this  infusion  of  patrician  blood 
brought  to  the  commoner  Jeffersonian  stream 
was  afterwards  slightingly  referred  to  by 
Thomas  Jefferson,  who  said,  with  a  character- 
istic democratic  sneer,  that  his  mother's  family 
traced  "  their  pedigree  far  back  in  England  and 


4  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Scotland,  to  which  let  every  one  ascribe  the 
faith  and  merit  lie  chooses." 

Peter  Jefferson's  plantation,  or  more  prop- 
erly his  farm,  for  it  seems  to  have  been  largely 
devoted  to  the  culture  of  wheat,  lay  on  the 
Rivanna  near  its  junction  with  the  James,  in- 
cluding a  large  extent  of  plain  and  some  of 
the  lower  shoulders  or  spurs  of  the  mountains 
known  as  the  Southwest  Range.  He  named 
it  Shad  well,  after  the  parish  in  London  where 
his  wife  had  been  born ;  among  its  hills  was 
that  of  Monticello,  upon  which  in  after  years 
Thomas  Jefferson  built  his  house.  Peter  was 
colonel  of  his  county  and  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Burgesses,  apparently  a  man  of  rising 
note  in  the  colony.  But  in  August,  1757,  in 
the  fiftieth  year  of  what  seemed  a  singularly 
vigorous  life,  he  suddenly  died,  leaving  Thomas 
only  fourteen  years  old,  with  the  advantages, 
however,  of  a  comfortable  property  and  an 
excellent  family  connection  on  the  mother's 
side,  so  that  it  would  be  his  own  fault  if  he 
should  not  prosper  well  in  the  world. 

Jefferson  appears  to  have  been  sensibly 
brought  up,  getting  as  good  an  education  as 
was  possible  in  Virginia  and  paying  also  due 
regard  to  his  physical  training.  He  grew  to 
be  a  slender  and  sinewy,  or  as  some  preferred 
to  say,  a  thin  and  raw-boned  young  man,  six 


YOUTH.  5 

feet  two  and  one  half  inches  tall,  with  hair 
variously  reported  as  red,  reddish,  and  sandy, 
and  with  eyes  mixed  of  gray  and  hazel.  Cer- 
tainly he  was  not  handsome,  and  in  order  to 
establish  his  social  attractiveness  his  friends  fall 
back  on  "  his  countenance,  so  highly  expressive 
of  intelligence  and  benevolence,"  and  upon  his 
"  fluent  and  sensible  conversation  "  intermingled 
with  a  "vein  of  pleasantry."  He  is  said  to 
have  improved  in  appearance  as  he  grew  older, 
and  to  have  become  "  a  very  good-looking  man 
in  middle  age,  and  quite  a  handsome  old  man."  1 
He  was  athletic,  fond  of  shooting,  and  a  skilful 
and  daring  horseman  even  for  a  Virginian. 
He  early  developed  a  strong  taste  for  music 
and  fiddled  assiduously  for  many  years.  By 
his  own  desire  he  entered  William  and  Mary 
College  in  1760  at  the  age  of  seventeen.  He 
was  now  secure  of  every  advantage  possible  for 
a  young  Virginian.  The  college  was  at  Wil- 
liam sburg,  then  the  capital  of  the  colony,  and 
his  relationship  with  the  Randolphs  made  him 
free  of  the  best  houses.2  A  Scotch  doctor, 

1  Tucker's  Life  of  Jefferson,  i.  29. 

2  But  one  must  not  draw  too  glowing  a  picture  of  the  ad- 
vantage of  living  in  Williamsburg,  which  in  fact  was  a  village 
containing  about  two  hundred  houses,  "  one  thousand  souls, 
whites  and  negroes,"  and  "  ten  or  twelve  gentlemen's  families 
constantly  residing  in  it,  besides  merchants  and  tradesmen." 
Only  during  the  winter  session  of  the  legislature  it  became 


6  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

William  Small,  was  Professor  of  Mathematics 
and  temporarily  also  of  Philosophy.  He  ap- 
pears to  have  had  a  happy  gift  of  instruction, 
and  to  have  fired  the  mind  of  his  pupil  with  a 
great  zeal  for  learning.  Jefferson  afterward 
even  said  that  the  presence  of  this  gentleman 
at  the  University  was  "what  probably  fixed 
the  destinies  of  my  life." 

If  we  may  take  Jefferson's  own  word  for  it,  he 
habitually  studied,  during  his  second  collegiate 
year,  fifteen  hours  a  day,  and  for  his  only  ex- 
ercise ran,  at  twilight,  a  mile  out  of  the  city 
and  back  again.  Long  afterward,  in  1808,  he 
wrote  to  a  grandson  a  sketch  of  this  period  of 
his  life,  composed  in  his  moral  and  didactic 
vein ;  in  it  he  draws  a  beautiful  picture  of  his 
own  precocious  and  unnatural  virtue,  and  is 
himself  obliged  to  gaze  in  surprise  upon  one 
so  young  and  yet  so  good  amid  crowding  temp- 
tations. Without  fully  sharing  in  this  generous 
admiration,  we  must  not  doubt  that  he  was 
sufficiently  studious  and  sensible,  for  he  had  a 
natural  thirst  for  information  and  he  always 
afterward  appeared  a  broadly  educated  man. 
His  preference  was  for  mathematics  and  nat- 
ural philosophy,  studies  which  he  deemed  "  so 
peculiarly  engaging  and  delightful  as  would 

"crowded  with  the  gentry  of  the  country."  See  Parton's 
Life  of  Jefferson,  20. 


YOUTH.  7 

induce  every  one  to  wish  an  acquaintance  with 
them."  He  was  fond  also  of  classics,  and  in- 
deed eschewed  with  positive  distaste  no  branch 
of  study  save  only  ethics  and  metaphysics.  At 
these  he  sneered,  and  actually  once  had  the 
courage  to  say  that  it  was  "  lost  time "  to 
attend  lectures  on  moral  philosophy,  since  "  he 
who  made  us  would  have  been  a  pitiful  bungler 
if  he  had  made  the  rules  of  our  moral  conduct 
a  matter  of  science."  Certainly  morals  never 
became  in  his  mind  one  of  the  exact  sciences, 
and  the  heretical  notion  of  his  youth  remained 
the  conviction  of  his  mature  years.  He  appears 
to  have  read  quite  extensively,  with  sound  selec- 
tion and  liberal  taste,  among  the  acknowledged 
classics  in  Greek,  Latin,  and  English  literature, 
and  to  some  extent  also  in  French  and  Italian. 
But  novels  he  never  fancied  and  rarely  touched 
at  any  period  of  his  life,  though  not  by  reason 
of  a  severe  taste,  since  for  a  long  while  he  was 
nothing  less  than  infatuated  with  the  bom- 
bast of  Ossian. 

After  graduation,  Jefferson  read  law  in  the 
office  of  George  Wythe,  a  gentleman  whose 
genial  social  qualities  and  high  professional 
attainments  are  attested  by  the  friendly  allu- 
sions of  many  eminent  contemporaries.1  His 

1  John  Marshall  read  law  with  him,  and  Henry  Clay  was 
his  private  secretary. 


8  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

zeal  in  labor  still  continued,  and  again  the 
story  is  told  that  he  habitually  reached  the 
measure  of  fifteen  hours  of  study  daily.  When 
he  was  about  twenty-one  years  old,  Jefferson 
drew  up  a  plan  of  study  and  reading  for  a  young 
friend.  Before  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning 
this  poor  fellow  was  to  devote  himself  to  "  phys- 
ical studies " ;  eight  to  twelve  o'clock,  law ; 
twelve  to  one,  politics  ;  afternoon,  history  ; 
"  dark  to  bedtime,"  literature,  oratory,  etc.,  etc. 
Yet  there  were  cakes  and  ale  in  those  days, 
young  girls  and  dancing  at  the  Raleigh  tavern, 
cards  and  horses;  and  the  young  Virginians  had 
their  full  share  of  all  these  good  things.  Prob- 
ably the  fifteen  hours  stint,  as  a  strictly  regular 
daily  allowance,  is  fabulous.  With  Professor 
Small  and  Mr.  Wythe  the  young  student  formed 
a  "  partie  quarrde  "  at  the  "  palace  "  of  Francis 
Fauquier,  then  the  gay,  agreeable,  accomplished, 
free-thinking,  gambling  Governor  of  Virginia. 
The  four  habitually  dined  together  in  spite  of 
the  fifteen-hour  rule,  and  it  betokens  no  small 
degree  of  intellectual  maturity  on  the  part  of 
Jefferson,  that  while  a  mere  college  lad  he  was 
the  selected  companion  of  three  such  gentlemen. 
Fortunately  his  sound  common  sense  protected 
him  from  the  dangerous  elements  in  the  asso- 
ciation. 

A  few  letters  written  by  Jefferson  at  this 


. 

YOUTH.  9 

time  to  his  friend  John  Page,  a  member  of  the 
well-known  Virginian  family  of  that  name  and 
himself  afterward  Governor  of  Virginia,  have 
been  preserved.  Without  showing  much  brill- 
iancy, they  abound  in  labored  attempts  at 
humor  and  are  thickly  sown  with  fragments 
from  the  classics  and  simple  bits  of  original 
Latinity.  The  chief  burden  of  them  all  is  the 
girls,  whose  faces,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  were  prettier 
than  their  names,  —  Sukey  Potter,  Judy  Bur- 
well,  and  the  like.  One  of  them,  "  Belinda," 
as  he  called  her,  he  treated  in  a  rather  peculiar 
way.  He  told  her  that  he  loved  her,  but  did 
not  desire  at  present  to  engage  himself,  since  he 
wished  to  go  to  Europe  for  an  indefinite  period  ; 
but  he  said  that  on  his  return,  of  course  with 
unchanged  affections,  he  would  finally  and 
openly  commit  himself.  To  this  not  very  ardent 
proposition  the  lady  naturally  said  No,  and  soon 
wedded  another.  The  "  laggard  in  love  "  wrote 
a  despairing  letter  or  two,  which  fail  to  bring 
tears  to  the  reader's  eyes  ;  remained  in  comfort- 
able bachelorhood  a  few  short  years,  and  then 
gave  his  hand,  and  doubtless  also  in  all  warmth 
and  sincerity  his  heart,  to  the  young  widow 
of  Bathurst  Skelton.  His  marriage  took  place 
January  1,  1772.  If  the  accounts  of  gallant 
chroniclers  may  be  trusted,  the  bride  had  every 
qualification  which  can  make  woman  attractive ; 


10  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  ' 

an  exquisite  feminine  beauty,  grace  of  man- 
ners, loveliness  of  disposition,  rare  cleverness, 
and  many  accomplishments.  Furthermore,  her 
father,  John  Wayles,  a  rich  lawyer,  consider- 
ately died  about  sixteen  months  after  the  mar- 
riage, and  so  caused  a  handsome  addition  to 
Jefferson's  property. 

Jefferson,  however,  had  no  need  to  marry  for 
money.  Though  not  very  rich,  he  was  well  off 
and  was  rapidly  multiplying  his  assets.  At  the 
time  of  his  marriage  he  had  increased  his  pat- 
rimony so  that  1,900  acres  had  swelled  by  pur- 
chases to  5,000  acres,  and  thirty  slaves  had 
increased  to  fifty-two.  He  was  getting  consid- 
erably upwards  of  $3,000  a  year  from  his  pro- 
fession,1 and  $2,000  from  his  farm.  This  made 
a  very  good  income  in  those  days  in  Virginia. 
The  evidence  is  abundant  that  he  was  thrifty, 
industrious,  and  successful.  He  seemed  like  one 
destined  to  accumulate  wealth,  but  he  never 
had  a  fair  opportunity  to  show  his  capacity  in 
this  direction,  since  he  maintained  a  resolve  not 
to  better  his  fortunes  while  in  public  life. 

His  career  at  the  bar  began  in  1767,  when  he 
was  only  twenty-four  years  old,  and  closed  in 
1774.  If  he  had  only  been  getting  fairly  into 
business  when  he  left  the  profession,  he  would 

1  During  the  seven  years  that  he  was  in  practice  his  fees 
averaged  $3,000  per  annum. 


YOUTH.  11 

have  had  little  right  to  complain.  But  appar- 
ently he  had  stepped  at  once  into  an  excellent 
practice,  and  either  the  chief  occupation  of  all 
Virginians  was  litigation,  or  else  he  must  have 
enjoyed  exceptional  good  fortune.  In  the  first 
year  he  had  sixty  eight  cases  in  the  "  general 
court,"  in  the  next  year  one  hundred  and  fif- 
teen, in  the  third  year  one  hundred  and  nine- 
ty-eight. Of  causes  before  inferior  tribunals 
no  record  was  kept.  Yet  Mr.  Randall  tells  us 
that  he  was  chiefly  an  "  office-lawyer,"  for  that 
a  husky  weakness  of  the  voice  prevented  him 
from  becoming  very  successful  as  an  advocate. 

The  farming,  though  it  contributed  the 
smaller  fraction  of  his  income,  was  the  calling 
which  throughout  life  he  loved  with  an  inborn 
fondness  not  to  be  quenched  by  all  the  cares 
and  interests  of  a  public  career,  and  his  note- 
books attest  the  unresting  interest  which  he 
brought  to  it  in  all  times  and  places.  A  striking 
paper,  unfortunately  incomplete  and  undated, 
is  published  in  the  first  volume  of  his  works. 
"  I  sometimes  ask  myself,"  he  writes,  "  whether 
my  country  is  the  better  for  my  having  lived 
at  all.  ...  I  have  been  the  instrument  of 
doing  the  following  things."  Then  are  enu- 
merated such  matters  as  the  disestablishment 
of  the  state  church  in  Virginia,  the  putting  an 
end  to  entails,  the  prohibition  of  the  importa- 


12  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

tion  of  slaves,  also  the  drafting  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  and  in  the  same  not  very 
long  list,  cheek  by  jowl  with  these  momentous 
achievements,  follows  the  importation  of  olive 
plants  from  Marseilles  into  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia,  and  of  heavy  upland  rice  from  Africa 
into  the  same  States,  in  the  hope  that  it  might 
supersede  the  culture  of  the  wet  rice  so  pesti- 
lential in  the  summer.  "  The  greatest  service," 
he  comments,  "  which  can  be  rendered  to  any 
country  is,  to  add  a  useful  plant  to  its  culture, 
especially  a  bread  grain  ;  next  in  value  to  bread 
is  oil."  At  another  time  he  wrote :  "  Those 
who  labor  in  the  earth  are  the  chosen  people 
of  God,  if  ever  he  had  a  chosen  people,  whose 
breasts  he  has  made  his  peculiar  deposit  for 
substantial  and  genuine  virtue.  .  .  .  Corrup- 
tion of  morals  in  the  mass  of  cultivators  is 
a  phenomenon  of  which  no  age  or  nation  has 
furnished  an  example.  .  .  .  Generally  speak- 
ing, the  proportion  which  the  aggregate  of 
the  other  classes  of  citizens  bears  in  any  state 
to  that  of  the  husbandmen  is  the  proportion 
of  its  unsound  to  its  healthy  parts,  and  is  a 
good  enough  barometer  whereby  to  measure  the 
degree  of  its  corruption."  From  these  prem- 
ises he  draws  the  conclusion  that  it  is  an  er- 
ror to  attract  artificers  or  mechanics  from  for- 
eign parts  into  this  country.  It  will  be  better 


YOUTH.  13 

and  more  wholesome,  he  says,  to  leave  them  in 
their  European  workshops  and  "  carry  provisions 
and  materials  to  workmen  there,  than  bring 
them  to  the  provisions  and  materials,  and  with 
them  their  manners  and  principles."  This 
would  hardly  pass  nowadays  for  sound  political 
economy  ;  but  it  is  an  excellent  sample  of  the 
simple  impractical  form  into  which  Jefferson's 
reflections  were  apt  to  develop  when  the  mood 
of  dreamy  virtue  was  upon  him.  During  an 
inroad  of  yellow  fever  he  found  "  consolation  " 
in  the  reflection  that  Providence  had  so  ordered 
things  "  that  most  evils  are  the  means  of  pro- 
ducing some  good.  The  yellow  fever  will  dis- 
courage the  growth  of  great  cities  in  our  nation, 
and  I  view  great  cities  as  pestilential  to  the 
morals,  the  health,  and  the  liberties  of  man." 
Nor  did  wider  experience  of  the  world  cause 
him  to  change  his  views.  In  1785  he  wrote 
from  Paris  :  "  Cultivators  of  the  earth  are  the 
most  valuable  citizens.  They  are  the  most  vig- 
orous, the  most  independent,  the  most  virtuous  ; 
and  they  are  tied  to  their  country  and  wedded 
to  its  liberty  and  interests  by  the  most  lasting 
bonds.  ...  I  consider  the  class  of  artificers  as 
the  panders  of  vice,  and  the  instruments  by 
which  the  liberties  of  a  country  are  generally 
overturned."  "  Were  I  to  indulge  in  my  own 
theory,"  he  again  says,  "  I  should  wish  them 


14  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

(the  States)  to  practise  neither  commerce  nor 
navigation,  but  to  stand  with  respect  to  Europe 
precisely  on  the  footing  of  China." 

For  his  own  personal  part,  Jefferson  was 
always  an  enthusiast  in  agriculture.  He  was 
never  too  busy  to  find  time  to  note  the  dates  of 
the  planting  and  the  ripening  of  his  vegetables 
and  fruits.  He  left  behind  him  a  table  enu- 
merating thirty-seven  esculents,  and  showing 
the  earliest  date  of  the  appearance  of  each  one 
of  them  in  the  Washington  market  in  each  of 
eight  successive  years.  He  had  ever  a  quick 
observation  and  a  keen  intelligence  ready  for 
every  fragment  of  new  knowledge  or  hint  of  a 
useful  invention  in  the  way  of  field  work.  All 
through  his  busy  official  life,  abroad  and  at 
home,  he  appears  ceaselessly  to  have  one  eye  on 
the  soil  and  one  ear  open  to  its  cultivators  ;  he 
is  always  comparing  varying  methods  and  re- 
sults, sending  new  seeds  hither  and  thither, 
making  suggestions,  trying  experiments,  till,  in 
the  presence  of  his  enterprise  and  activity,  one 
begins  to  think  that  the  stagnating  character  so 
commonly  attributed  to  the  Virginian  planters 
must  be  fabulous.  For,  on  the  contrary,  so  far 
was  his  temperament  removed  from  the  conser- 
vatism of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  that  often  he 
seemed  to  take  the  fact  that  a  thing  had  never 
been  done  as  a  sufficient  reason  for  doing  it. 


YOUTH.  15 

All  his  tendencies  were  utilitarian.  Though 
strangely  devoid  of  any  appreciation  of  fiction 
in  literature,  yet  he  had  a  powerful  imagina- 
tion, which  ranged  wholly  in  the  unromantic 
domain  of  the  useful,  and  ran  riot  in  schemes 
for  conferring  practical  benefits  on  mankind. 
He  betrayed  the  same  traits  in  agriculture  and 
in  politics.  In  both  he  was  often  a  dreamer, 
but  his  dreams  concerned  the  daily  affairs  of 
his  fellow  men,  and  his  life  was  devoted  to  re- 
ducing his  idealities  to  realities.  It  was  largely 
this  sanguine  taste  for  novelty,  this  dash  of  the 
imaginative  element,  flavoring  all  his  projects 
and  doctrines,  which  made  them  attractive  to 
the  multitude,  who,  finding  present  facts  to  be 
for  the  most  part  hard  and  uninviting,  are  ever 
prone  to  be  pleased  with  propositions  for  variety. 
Only  once,  under  the  combined  influences  of 
Ossian,  youth,  and  love,  we  find  his  fancy  roving 
in  a  melodramatic  direction.  He  turns  then 
for  a  while  from  absorbing  calculations  of  the 
amount  of  work  which  a  man  can  do  with  a 
one-wheeled  barrow  and  the  amount  he  can  do 
with  a  two-wheeled  barrow,  the  number  and 
cost  of  the  nails  required  for  a  certain  length  of 
paling,  the  amount  of  lime,  or  limestone,  re- 
quired for  a  perch  of  stone  wall,  and  in  place  of 
these  useful  computations  he  lays  plans  for 
ornamental  work.  He  will  "choose  out  for  a 


16  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

burying  place  some  unfrequented  vale  in  the 
park,"  wherein  a  bubbling  brook  alone  shall 
break  the  stillness,  while  around  shall  be  "  an- 
cient and  venerable  oaks "  interspersed  with 
"  gloomy  evergreens."  In  the  centre  shall  be 
a  "  small  gothic  temple  of  antique  appearance." 
He  will  "  appropriate  one  half  to  the  use  of  his 
family,"  the  other,  with  an  odd  manifestation  of 
Virginian  hospitality,  to  the  use  of  "  strangers," 
servants,  etc.  There  shall  be  "  pedestals,  with 
urns  and  proper  inscriptions  "  and  a  "  pyramid 
of  the  rough  rockstone  "  over  the  "  grave  of  a 
favorite  and  faithful  servant."  There  will  be, 
of  course,  a  grotto,  "  spangled  with  translucent 
pebbles  and  beautiful  shells,"  with  an  ever 
trickling  stream,  a  mossy  couch,  a  figure  of  a 
sleeping  nymph,  and  appropriate  mottoes  in 
English  and  Latin.  It  is  needless  to  say  that 
these  idle  fancies  seem  never  to  have  been  seri- 
ously taken  in  hand.  More  important  and 
engrossing  work  than  the  preparation  of  an  en- 
ticing grave-yard  was  forthwith  to  claim.  Jeffer- 
son's attention. 


CHAPTER  II. 

IN  THE  HOUSE  OF   BURGESSES. 

ABOUT  the  time  when  he  entered  college, 
Jefferson  made  the  acquaintance  of  Patrick 
Henry,  then  a  rather  unprosperous,  hilarious, 
unknown  young  countryman,  just  admitted  to 
the  bar,  though  profoundly  ignorant  of  law. 
An  intimacy  sprang  up  between  them,  and 
when  Henry  became  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Burgesses  he  often  shared  Jefferson's  cham- 
bers at  Williamsburg.  From  them  he  went,  in 
May,  1765,  to  utter  that  ringing  speech  against 
taxation  without  representation  which  made 
him  for  a  time  foremost  among  Virginian  pa- 
triots. In  the  doorway  of  the  hall  stood  Jeffer- 
son, an  entranced  listener,  thinking  that  Henry 
spoke  "as  Homer  wrote."  The  magnetic  influ- 
ence of  this  brilliant  friend  would  have  trans- 
formed a  more  loyally  disposed  youth  than 
Jefferson  into  an  arrant  rebel.  But  no  influ- 
ence was  needed  for  this  purpose ;  Jefferson 
was  by  nature  a  bold  and  free  thinker,  want- 
ing rather  ballast  than  canvas.  As  he  watched 
the  course  of  public  events  in  those  years  when 


18  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  germs  of  the  Revolution  were  swelling  and 
quickening  in  the  land,  all  his  sympathies  were 
warmly  enlisted  with  the  party  of  resistance. 
By  the  year  1768,  when  the  advent  of  a  new 
governor  made  necessary  the  election  of  a  new 
House  of  Burgesses,  he  already  craved  the  op- 
portunity to  take  an  active  part  in  affairs,  and 
at  once  offered  himself  as  a  candidate  for  Albe- 
marle  County.  He  kept  open  house,  distributed 
limitless  punch,  stood  by  the  polls,  politely 
bowing  to  every  voter  who  named  him,  all  ac- 
cording to  the  Virginian  fashion  of  the  day,1 
and  had  the  good  fortune,  by  these  meritorious 
efforts,  to  win  success.  On  May  11,  1769,  he 
took  his  seat.  Lord  Botetourt  delivered  his 
quasi-royal  speech,  and  Jefferson  drew  the  reso- 
lutions constituting  the  basis  of  the  reply ;  but 
afterward,  being  deputed  to  draw  the  reply  it- 
self, he  suffered  the  serious  mortification  of  hav- 
ing his  document  rejected.  On  the  third  day 
the  Burgesses  passed  another  batch  of  resolu- 
tions, so  odiously  like  a  Bill  of  Rights  that  the 
Governor,  much  perturbed  in  his  loyal  mind, 
dissolved  them  at  once.  The  next  day  they 
eked  out  this  brief  term  of  service  by  meeting 
in  the  "  Apollo,"  or  long  room  of  the  Raleigh 
tavern,  where  eighty-eight  of  them,  of  whom 
Jefferson  was  one,  formed  a  non-importation 

1  See  Parton's  description,  in  his  Life  of  Jefferson,  p.  88. 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  BURGESSES.  19 

league  as  against  British  merchandise.  All 
the  signers  of  this  document  were  at  once  re- 
elected  by  their  constituents. 

In  March,  1773,  the  Burgesses  again  came  to- 
gether in  no  good  humor.  The  destruction  of 
the  Gaspee  in  Narragansett  Bay  had  led  to  a 
draconic  act  of  Parliament  whereby  any  colonist, 
destroying  so  much  as  "the  button  of  a  mar- 
iner's coat,"  might  be  carried  to  England  for 
trial  and  punished  with  death.  Upon  the  as- 
sembling of  the  Burgesses,  Jefferson  and  some 
five  or  six  others,  "not  thinking  our  old  and 
leading  members  up  to  the  point  of  forwardness 
and  zeal  which  the  times  required,"  met  pri- 
vately in  consultation.  The  offspring  of  their 
conference  was  a  standing  committee  charged 
to  correspond  with  like  committees  which  the 
sister  colonies  were  invited  to  appoint.  An 
idle  controversy  has  arisen  as  to  whether  Mas- 
sachusetts or  Virginia  was  first  to  devise  this 
system  of  correspondence.  Jefferson  long  aft- 
erward averred  that  Virginia  was  the  earlier, 
and  the  evidence  favors  the  substantial  correct- 
ness of  his  statement ;  for,  though  Massachusetts 
had  suggested  the  idea  some  two  years  before, 
she  had  not  pushed  it,  and  the  suggestion,  known 
to  few,  had  been  forgotten  by  all.  It  naturally 
resulted  from  this  proceeding  that  the  Bur- 
gesses were  at  once  dissolved  by  the  Earl  of 


20  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Dunmore.     But  the  committee  met  on  the  next 
day  and  issued  their  circular  of  invitation. 

A  year  later,  in  the  spring  of  1774,  news  of 
the  Boston  Port  Bill  came  while  the  Burgesses 
were  in  session.  Again  Jefferson  and  some 
half  dozen  more,  feeling  that  "  the  lead  in  the 
House  on  these  subjects  [should]  no  longer  be 
left  with  the  old  members,"  and  agreeing  that 
they  "  must  boldly  take  an  unequivocal  stand 
in  the  line  with  Massachusetts," l  met  in  secret 
to  devise  proper  measures.  They  determined  to 
appoint  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  and  in  the 
House  they  succeeded  in  carrying  a  resolution 
to  that  effect.  Again  the  Governor  dissolved 
them ;  again  they  went  over  to  the  "  Apollo," 
and  again  passed  there  most  disloyal  resolutions. 
Among  these  was  one  requesting  the  Commit- 
tee of  Correspondence  to  consult  the  other  col- 

1  The  march  of  events,  Jefferson  afterward  wrote, "  favored 
the  bolder  spirits  of  Henry,  the  Lees,  Pages,  Mason,  etc.,  with 
whom  I  went  at  all  points.  Sensible,  however,  of  the  impor- 
tance of  unanimity  among  our  constituents,  although  we  often 
wished  to  have  gone  faster,  we  slackened  our  pace  that  our 
less  ardent  colleagues  might  keep  up  with  us ;  and  they  on 
their  part,  differing  nothing  from  us  in  principle,  quickened 
their  gait  somewhat  beyond  that  which  their  prudence  might, 
of  itself,  have  advised,  and  thus  consolidated  the  phalanx  which 
breasted  the  power  of  Britain.  By  this  harmony  of  the  bold 
with  the  cautious,  we  advanced  with  our  constituents,  in  un- 
divided mass,  and  with  fewer  examples  of  separation  than, 
perhaps,  existed  in  any  other  part  of  the  Union." 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  BURGESSES.  21 

onies  on  the  expediency  of  holding  annually  a 
general  Congress  ;  also  another,  for  the  meeting 
of  representatives  from  the  counties  of  Virginia 
in  convention  at  Williamsburg  on  August  1. 
The  freeholders  of  Albemarle  elected  Jefferson 
again  a  Burgess,  and  also  a  deputy  to  this  Con- 
vention. 

Jefferson  started  to  attend  the  meeting  of 
the  Convention,  but  upon  the  road  was  taken 
so  ill  with  a  dysentery  that  he  could  not  go  on. 
He  therefore  forwarded  a  draft  of  instructions, 
such  as  he  hoped  to  see  given  by  that  body  to 
the  delegates  whom  it  was  to  send  to  the  Gen- 
eral Congress  of  the  colonies.  One  copy  of  this 
document  was  sent  to  Patrick  Henry,  who, 
however,  "  communicated  it  to  nobody ; "  per- 
haps, says  Jefferson,  "because  he  disapproved 
the  ground  taken,"  perhaps  "  because  he  was 
too  lazy  to  read  it."  Another  copy  was  sent 
with  better  fortune  to  Peyton  Randolph,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Convention.  It  was  laid  by  him 
upon  the  table,  was  read  by  the  members,  and 
was  so  well  liked  that  it  was  printed  in  pamphlet 
form  under  the  title  of  "  A  Summary  View  of 
the  Rights  of  British  America ; "  in  this  shape 
it  was  sent  over  to  Great  Britain,  was  there 
"  taken  up  by  the  opposition,  interpolated  a 
little  by  Mr.  Burke,"  and  then  extensively  cir- 
culated, running  "  rapidly  through  several  edi- 
tions." 


22  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Naturally  that  was  the  era  of  manifestoes  in 
the  colonies,  and  many  pens  were  busy  prepar- 
ing documents,  public  and  private,  famous  and 
neglected,  but  nearly  all  sound,  spirited,  gen- 
eralizing, and  declamatory.  Jefferson's  instruc- 
tions did  not  wholly  escape  the  prevalent  faults, 
and  had  their  share  of  rodomontade  about  the 
rights  of  freemen  and  the  oppressions  of  mon- 
archs.  But  these  were  slight  blemishes  in  a 
paper  singularly  radical,  audacious,  and  well 
argued.  The  migration  of  the  "  Saxon  ances- 
tors" of  the  present  English  people,  he  said, 
had  been  made  "in  like  manner  with  that  of 
the  British  immigrants  to  the  American  col- 
onies." 

u  Nor  was  ever  any  claim  of  superiority  or  depend- 
ence asserted  over  [the  English]  by  that  Mother 
Country  from  which  they  had  migrated;  and  were 
such  a  claim  made,  it  is  believed  his  Majesty's  subjects 
in  Great  Britain  have  too  firm  a  feeling  of  the  rights 
derived  to  them  from  their  ancestors,  to  bow  down  the 
sovereignty  of  their  State  before  such  visionary  pre- 
tensions. And  it  is  thought  that  no  circumstance  has 
occurred  to  distinguish  materially  the  British  from 
the  Saxon  emigration.  America  was  conquered  and 
her  settlements  made  and  firmly  established  at  the 
expense  of  individuals,  and  not  of  the  British  public." 

This  was  laying  the  axe  at  the  very  root  of 
the  tree  with  tolerable  force ;  and  more  blows 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  BURGESSES.  23 

of  the  same  sort  followed.  The  connection  un- 
deniably existing  between  the  colonies  and  the 
mother  country  was  reduced  to  a  minimum  by 
an  ingenious  explanation.  The  emigrants,  Jef- 
ferson said,  had  "  thought  proper  "  to  "  continue 
their  union  with  England "  "  by  submitting 
themselves  to  the  same  sovereign,"  who  was 
a  "central  link"  or  "mediatory  power"  be- 
tween "  the  several  parts  of  the  Empire,"  so 
that  "  the  relation  between  Great  Britain  and 
these  colonies  was  exactly  the  same  as  that  of 
England  and  Scotland  after  the  accession  of 
James  and  until  the  union,  and  the  same  as  her 
present  relations  with  Hanover,  having  the  same 
executive  chief,  but  no  other  necessary  connec- 
tion." The  corollary  was  "  that  the  British 
Parliament  has  no  right  to  exercise  authority 
over  us,"  and  when  it  endeavored  to  do  so 
"  one  free  and  independent  legislature "  took 
upon  itself  "  to  suspend  the  powers  of  another, 
free  and  independent  as  itself." 

These  were  revolutionary  words,  and  fell 
short  by  ever  so  little  of  that  direct  declara- 
tion of  independence  which  they  anticipated 
by  less  than  two  years.  They  would  have  cost 
Jefferson  his  head  had  it  been  less  inconvenient 
to  bring  him  to  Westminster  Hall,  and  even 
that  inconvenience  would  probably  have  been 
overcome  had  forcible  opposition  been  a  little 


24  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

longer  deferred  in  the  colonies.  As  it  was,  the 
pamphlet  "  procured  him  the  honor  of  having 
his  name  inserted  in  a  long  list  of  proscriptions 
enrolled  in  a  bill  of  attainder  commenced  in  one 
of  the  Houses  of  Parliament,  but  suppressed  in 
embryo  by  the  hasty  step  of  events,  which 
warned  them  to  be  a  little  cautious." 

One  can  hardly  be  surprised  that  this  Jeffer- 
sonian  "  leap  was  too  long,  as  yet,  for  the  mass 
of  our  citizens,"  and  that  "tamer  sentiments 
were  preferred "  by  the  Convention.  Jeffer- 
son himself  frankly  admitted,  many  years  after- 
ward, that  the  preference  was  wise.  But  his 
colleagues  so  well  liked  a  boldness  somewhat 
in  excess  of  their  own,  that  six  months  later,  in 
view  of  the  chance  of  Peyton  Randolph  being 
called  away  from  service  in  the  Colonial  Con- 
gress, they  elected  Jefferson  as  a  deputy  to 
fill  the  vacancy  in  case  it  should  occur.  Not 
many  weeks  later  it  did  occur.  But  Jeffer- 
son was  detained  for  a  short  time  in  order  to 
draw  the  reply  of  the  Burgesses  to  the  cele- 
brated "  conciliatory  proposition,"  or  so  called 
"  olive  branch,"  of  Lord  North.  Otherwise  it 
was  "  feared  that  Mr.  Nicholas,  whose  mind 
was  not  yet  up  to  the  mark  of  the  times," 
would  undertake  it.  On  June  10,  1775,  the 
Burgesses  accepted  Jefferson's  draft  "  with 
long  and  doubtful  scruples  from  Nicholas  and 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  BURGESSES.  25 

Mercer,"  only  making  some  slight  amendments 
which  Jefferson  described  as  "  throwing  a  dash 
of  cold  water  on  it  here  and  there,  enfeebling 
it  somewhat."  The  day  after  its  passage  Jef- 
ferson set  forth  to  take  his  seat  in  Congress, 
bearing  with  him  the  document,  which  had 
been  anxiously  expected  by  that  body  as  be- 
ing the  earliest  reply  from  any  colony  to  the 
ministerial  proposition.  Its  closing  paragraph 
referred  the  matter  for  ultimate  action  to  the 
General  Congress. 


CHAPTER  III. 

IN  CONGRESS. 

JEFFEESON  arrived  in  Philadelphia  on  the 
tenth  day  of  his  journey,  and  on  June  21  be- 
came one  of  that  assembly  concerning  which 
Lord  Chatham  truly  said  that  its  members  had 
never  been  excelled  "  in  solidity  of  reasoning, 
force  of  sagacity,  and  wisdom  of  conclusion." 
Jefferson,  at  the  age  of  thirty-two,  was  among 
the  younger  deputies1  in  a  body  which,  by  the 
aid  of  Dr.  Franklin,  aged  seventy-one,  and  Ed- 
ward Rutledge,  aged  twenty-six,  represented 
all  the  adult  generations  of  the  country.  He 
brought  with  him  a  considerable  reputation  as 
a  ready  and  eloquent  writer,  and  was  justly  ex- 
pected, by  his  counsel,  his  pen,  and  his  vote,  to 
bring  substantial  reinforcement  to  the  more  ad- 
vanced party.  In  debate,  however,  not  much 
was  to  be  anticipated  from  him,  for  he  was 
never  able  to  talk  even  moderately  well  in  a 
deliberative  body.  Not  only  was  his  poor 

1  Not,  as  he  himself  with  wonted  inaccuracy  says,  "  the 
youngest  man  but  one ; "  for  besides  Edward  Rutledge,  born  in 
1749,  there  was  also  John  Jay,  born  in  1745. 


IN  CONGRESS.  27 

voice  an  impediment,  but  he  was  a  man  who 
instinctively  abhorred  contest.  Daringly  as 
he  wrote,  yet  he  shrank  from  that  contention 
which  pitted  him  face  to  face  against  another, 
though  the  only  weapons  were  the  "winged 
words  "  of  parliamentary  argumentation.  Tur- 
moil and  confusion  he  detested ;  amid  wrang- 
ling and  disputing  he  preferred  to  be  silent ; 
it  was  in  conversation,  in  the  committee-room, 
and  preeminently  when  he  had  pen,  ink,  and 
paper  before  him,  that  he  amply  justified  his 
presence  among  the  three-score  chosen  ones  of 
the  thirteen  colonies.  In  his  appropriate  de- 
partment he  quickly  superseded  Jay  as  docu- 
ment-writer to  Congress. 

Yet  his  first  endeavor  did  not  point  to  this 
distinction.  When  news  of  the  fight  at  Bun- 
ker's Hill  arrived  in  Philadelphia,  Congress  felt 
obliged  to  publish  a  manifesto  setting  before 
the  world  the  justification  of  this  now  bloody 
rebellion.  Jefferson,  as  a  member  of  the  com- 
mittee, undertook  to  draw  the  paper ;  but  he 
made  it  much  too  vigorous  for  the  conciliatory 
and  anxious  temper  of  Dickinson ;  so  that 
partly  out  of  regard  for  this  courteous  and  popu- 
lar gentleman,  partly  from  a  politic  desire  not 
to  outstrip  too  far  the  slower  ranks,  Jefferson's 
sheets  were  submitted  to  Dickinson  himself  for 
revision.  Not  content  with  modification,  that 


28  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

reluctant  patriot  prepared  an  entire  substitute 
which  was  reported  and  accepted.  But  its 
closing  four  and  one  half  clauses  were  borrowed 
from  the  draft  of  Jefferson,  whose  admirers 
think  that  these  alone  save  the  document 
from  being  altogether  feeble  and  inadequate. 
Among  them  were  the  following  significant 
words :  "  We  mean  not  to  dissolve  that  union 
which  has  so  long  and  so  happily  subsisted  be- 
tween us,  and  which  we  sincerely  wish  to  see 
restored.  Necessity  has  not  yet  [note  the  preg- 
nant word]  driven  us  into  that  desperate  meas- 
ure." 1 

A  month  afterward  Jefferson  had  better  luck 
with  his  composition.  He  was  second  on  the 
committee — of  which  the  members  were  chosen 
by  ballot  and  took  rank  according  to  the  num- 
ber of  votes  received  by  them  respectively  — 
deputed  to  draw  the  reply  of  Congress  to  Lord 
North's  "  conciliatory  proposition."  He  based 
his  paper  on  the  reply  already  drawn  by  him 

1  The  authorship  of  these  closing  paragraphs  has  been 
denied  to  Jefferson  and  attributed  to  Dickinson.  But  the 
evidence  would  establish  only  a  small  measure  of  probabil- 
ity in  favor  of  Dickinson,  if  it  stood  wholly  uncontradicted  ; 
and  it  utterly  fails  to  meet  and  control  Jefferson's  direct  asser- 
tion, made  in  his  Autobiography,  p.  11,  that  these  words  were 
retained  from  his  own  draft.  The  anxiety  to  claim  them  for 
Dickinson  shows  the  comparative  estimation  in  which  they 
are  held.  See  Magazine  of  Amer.  Hist.  viii.  514. 


IN  CONGRESS.  29 

for  the  Virginian  Burgesses,  and  was  gratified 
by  seeing  it  readily  accepted.  A  few  days  later 
Congress  adjourned,  and  Jefferson  resumed  his 
seat  and  duties  in  the  State  Convention,  by 
which  he  was  at  once  reflected  to  Congress, 
this  time  standing  third  on  the  list  of  dele- 
gates. 

Much  time  has  been  wasted  in  idle  efforts  to 
determine  precisely  when  and  by  whom  the 
idea  of  separation  and  consequent  independence 
of  the  provinces  was  first  broached  before  the 
Colonial  Congress.  The  inquiry  is  useless  for 
many  reasons,  but  conclusively  so  because  all 
the  evidence  which  the  world  is  ever  likely  to 
see  has  been  already  adduced  and  has  not  suf- 
ficed to  remove  the  question  out  of  the  domain 
of  discussion.  The  truth  is  that  while  no  in- 
telligent man  could  help  contemplating  this 
probable  conclusion,  all  deprecated  it,  many 
with  more  of  anxiety  than  resolution,  but  not 
a  few  with  a  more  daring  spirit.  In  varying 
moods  even  the  same  individual  might  have 
different  feelings.  In  his  habitual  frame  of 
mind  Jefferson  thought  separation  to  be  daily 
approaching,  and  in  the  near  presence  of  so 
momentous  an  event  he  was  so  far  grave  and 
dubious  as  to  express  a  strong  disinclination  for 
it,  though  avowedly  preferring  it  with  all  its 
possible  train  of  woes  to  a  continuance  of  the 


30  THOMAS  JEFFERSON'. 

present  oppression.  He  was  too  thoughtful  not 
to  be  a  reluctant  revolutionist,  but  for  the  same 
reason  he  was  sure  to  be  a  determined  one. 
His  relative,  John  Randolph,  Attorney-General 
of  the  colony,  was  a  loyalist,  and  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1775  was  about  to  remove  to  England. 
Jefferson  wrote  to  him  a  friendly,  serious  letter, 
suggesting  some  considerations  which  he  hoped 
that  Randolph  might  have  opportunity  to  lay 
before  the  English  government,  advantageously 
for  both  parties.  He  deprecates  the  present 
"  contention  "  and  the  "  continuance  of  confu- 
sion," which  for  him  constitute,  "  of  all  states 
but  one,  the  most  horrid."  He  says  that  Eng- 
land 

"  would  be  certainly  unwise,  by  trying  the  event 
of  another  campaign,  to  risk  our  accepting  a  foreign 
aid,  which  perhaps  may  not  be  obtainable  but  on  con- 
dition of  everlasting  avulsion  from  Great  Britain. 
This  would  be  thought  a  hard  condition  to  those  who 
still  wish  for  a  re-union  with  their  parent  country.  I 
am  sincerely  one  of  those,  and  would  rather  be  in  de- 
pendence on  Great  Britain,  properly  limited,  than  on 
any  other  nation  on  earth,  or  than  on  no  nation.  But 
I  am  one  of  those,  too,  who,  rather  than  submit  to  the 
rights  of  legislating  for  us  assumed  by  the  British 
Parliament,  and  which  late  experience  has  shown 
they  will  so  cruelly  exercise,  would  lend  my  hand  to 
sink  the  whole  island  in  the  ocean." 


IN  CONGRESS.  31 

This  was  written  August  25,  1775 ;  three 
months  later  he  wrote,  with  a  perceptible  in- 
crease of  feeling :  — 

"  It  is  an  immense  misfortune  to  the  whole  empire 
to  have  a  king  of  such  a  disposition  at  such  a  time. 
...  In  an  earlier  part  of  this  contest  our  petitions 
told  him  that  from  our  King  there  was  but  one  appeal. 
The  admonition  was  despised  and  that  appeal  forced 
on  us.  To  undo  his  empire,  he  has  but  one  truth 
more  to  learn,  —  that,  after  colonies  have  drawn  the 
sword,  there  is  but  one  step  more  they  can  take. 
That  step  is  now  pressed  upon  us  by  the  measures 
adopted,  as  if  they  were  afraid  we  would  not  take  it. 
Believe  me,  dear  sir,  there  is  not  in  the  British  Em- 
pire a  man  who  more  cordially  loves  a  union  with 
Great  Britain  than  I  do.  But  by  the  God  that  made 
me,  I  will  cease  to  exist  before  I  yield  to  a  connection 
on  such  terms  as  the  British  Parliament  propose ;  and 
in  this  I  think  I  speak  the  sentiments  of  America. 
We  want  neither  inducement  nor  power  to  declare 
and  assert  a  separation.  It  is  will  alone  that  is 
wanting,  and  that  is  growing  apace  under  the  fostering 
hand  of  our  King.  One  bloody  campaign  will  prob- 
ably decide,  everlastingly,  our  future  course;  and  I 
am  sorry  to  find  a  bloody  campaign  is  decided  on." 

In  the  autumn  of  1775  Jefferson  was  again 
attending  Congress  in  Philadelphia ;  early  in 
1776  he  came  home ;  but  on  May  13,  1776,  he 
was  back  in  his  seat  as  a  delegate  from  the  Col- 
ony, soon  to  be  the  State,  of  Virginia.  Events, 


32  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

which  ten  years  ago  had  begun  a  sort  of  glacial 
movement,  slow  and  powerful,  were  now  advan- 
cing fast.  On  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  Thomas 
Paine  had  sent  "  Common  Sense  "  abroad  among 
the  people,  and  had  stirred  them  profoundly. 
Since  the  bloodshed  at  Lexington  and  Charles- 
town,  Falmouth  had  been  burned,  Norfolk  bom- 
barded, and  General  Washington,  concluding 
triumphantly  the  leaguer  around  Boston,  was 
as  open  and  efficient  an  enemy  of  England  as  if 
he  had  been  a  Frenchman  or  a  Spaniard.  It 
was  time  to  transmute  him  from  a  rebel  into  a 
foreigner.  Nor  had  the  members  of  Congress 
any  chance  of  escaping  the  hangman's  rope  un- 
less this  alteration  could  be  accomplished  for  all 
the  colonists.  For  all  prominent  men,  alike  in 
military  and  in  civil  life,  it  was  now  independ- 
ence or  destruction.  Virginia  instructed  her 
delegates  to  move  that  Congress  should  declare 
"  the  United  Colonies,  free  and  independent 
States,"  and  on  June  7  Richard  Henry  Lee 
offered  resolutions  accordingly.  In  debate  upon 
these  on  June  8  and  10  it  appeared,  says  Jef- 
ferson, that  certain  of  the  colonies  "  were  not 
yet  matured  for  falling  from  the  parent  stem, 
but  that  they  were  fast  advancing  to  that  state." 
To  give  the  laggards  time  to  catch  up  with 
the  vanguard,  further  discussion  was  postponed 
until  July  1.  But  to  prevent  loss  of  time,  when 


IN  CONGRESS.  33 

debate  should  be  resumed,  Congress  on  June  11 
appointed  a  committee  charged  to  prepare  a 
Declaration  of  Independence,  so  that  it  might 
be  ready  at  once  when  it  should  be  wanted. 
The  members,  in  the  order  of  choice  by  ballot, 
were:  Thomas  Jefferson,  John  Adams,  Ben- 
jamin Franklin,  Roger  Sherman,  and  Robert  R. 
Livingston. 

For  the  last  hundred  years  one  of  the  first 
facts  taught  to  any  child  of  American  birth  is, 
that  Jefferson  wrote  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. The  original  draft  in  his  handwrit- 
ing was  afterward  deposited  in  the  State  De- 
partment. It  shows  two  or  three  trifling 
alterations,  interlined  in  the  handwritings  of 
Franklin  and  Adams.  Otherwise  it  came  be- 
fore Congress  precisely  as  Jefferson  wrote  it. 
Many  years  afterward  John  Adams  gave  an  ac- 
count of  the  way  in  which  Jefferson  came  to  be 
the  composer  of  this  momentous  document,  dif- 
fering slightly  from  the  story  told  by  Jefferson. 
But  the  variance  is  immaterial,  hardly  greater 
than  any  experienced  lawyer  would  expect  to 
find  between  the  testimony  of  two  honest  wit- 
nesses to  any  transaction,  especially  when  given 
after  the  lapse  of  many  years,  and  when  one  at 
least  had  no  memoranda  for  refreshing  his 
memory.  Jefferson's  statement  seems  the  bet- 
ter entitled  to  credit,  and  what  little  corrobora- 


34  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

tion  is  to  be  obtained  for  either  narrator  is 
wholly  in  his  favor.  He  says  simply  that  when 
the  Committee  came  together  he  was  pressed 
by  his  colleagues  unanimously  to  undertake  the 
draft ;  that  he  did  so ;  that,  when  he  had  pre- 
pared it,  he  submitted  it  to  Dr.  Franklin  and 
Mr.  Adams,  separately,  requesting  their  correc- 
tions, "  which  were  two  or  three  only  and 
merely  verbal,"  "  interlined  in  their  own  hand- 
writings ;  "  that  the  report  in  this  shape  was 
adopted  by  the  committee,  and  a  "  fair  copy," 
written  out  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  was  then  laid  be- 
fore Congress. 

A  somewhat  more  interesting  discussion  con- 
cerns the  question,  how  Jefferson  came  to  be 
named  first  on  the  committee,  to  the  entire  ex- 
clusion of  Lee,  to  whom,  as  mover  of  the  reso- 
lution, parliamentary  etiquette  would  have  as- 
gigned  the  chairmanship.  Many  explanations 
have  been  given,  of  which  some  at  least  appear 
the  outgrowth  of  personal  likings  and  dislik- 
ings.  It  is  certain  that  Jefferson  was  not  only 
preeminent^  fitted  for  the  very  difficult  task 
of  this  peculiar  composition,  but  also  that  he 
was  a  man  without  an  enemy.  His  abstinence 
from  any  active  share  in  debate  had  saved  him 
from  giving  irritation;  and  it  is  a  truth  not  to 
be  concealed,  that  there  were  cabals,  bickerings, 
heart-burnings,  perhaps  actual  enmities  among 


IN  CONGHESS.  35 

the  members  of  that  famous  body,  which, 
grandly  as  it  looms  up,  and  rightly  too,  in  the 
mind's  eye,  was  after  all  composed  of  jarring 
human  ingredients.  It  was  well  believed  that 
there  was  a  faction  opposed  to  Washington, 
and  it  was  generally  suspected  that  irascible, 
vain,  and  jealous  John  Adams,  then  just  rising 
from  the  ranks  of  the  people,  made  in  this  mat- 
ter common  cause  with  the  aristocratic  Virginian 
Lees  against  their  fellow-countryman.  Adams 
frankly  says  that  he  himself  was  very  unpopu- 
lar ;  and  therefore  it  did  not  help  Lee  to  be  his 
friend.  Furthermore,  the  anti-Washingtonians 
were  rather  a  clique  or  faction  than  a  party, 
and  were  greatly  outnumbered.  Jay,  too,  had 
his  little  private  pique  against  Lee.  So  it  is 
likely  enough  that  a  timely  illness  of  Lee's  wife 
was  a  fortunate  excuse  for  passing  him  by,  and 
that  partly  by  reason  of  admitted  aptitude, 
partly  because  no  risk  could  be  run  of  any  in- 
terference of  personal  feelings  in  so  weighty  a 
matter,  Jefferson  was  placed  first  on  the  com- 
mittee with  the  natural  result  of  doing  the  bulk 
of  its  labor. 

On  July  1,  pursuant  to  assignment,  Congress, 
in  committee  of  the  whole,  resumed  consider- 
ation of  Mr.  Lee's  resolution,  and  carried  it  by 
the  votes  of  nine  colonies.  South  Carolina  and 
Pennsylvania  voted  against  it.  The  two  dele- 


36  THOMAS  JJEFFEKSON. 

gates  from  Delaware  were  divided.  Those 
from  New  York  said  that  personally  they  were 
in  favor  of  it  and  believed  their  constituents  to 
be  so,  but  they  were  hampered  by  instructions 
drawn  a  twelvemonth  since  and  strictly  forbid- 
ding any  action  obstructive  of  reconciliation, 
which  was  then  still  desired.  The  committee 
reported,  and  then  Edward  Rutledge  moved  an 
adjournment  to  the  next  day,  when  his  col- 
leagues, though  disapproving  the  resolution, 
would  probably  join  in  it  for  the  sake  of  unan- 
imity. This  motion  was  carried,  and  on  the  day 
following  the  South  Carolinians  were  found  to  be 
converted  ;  also  a  third  member  "  had  come  post 
from  the  Delaware  counties  "  and  caused  the 
vote  of  that  colony  to  be  given  with  the  rest ; 
Pennsylvania  changed  her  vote  ;  and  a  few  days 
later  the  Convention  of  New  York  approved 
the  resolution,  "  thus  supplying  the  void  occa- 
sioned by  the  withdrawing  of  her  delegates 
from  the  vote." 

On  the  same  day,  July  2,  the  House  took 
up  Mr.  Jefferson's  draft  of  the  Declaration, 
and  debated  it  during  that  and  the  following 
day  and  until  a  late  hour  on  July  4.  Many 
verbal  changes  were  made,  most  of  which  were 
conducive  to  closer  accuracy  of  statement,  and 
were  improvements.  Two  or  three  substan- 
tial amendments  were  made  by  the  omission 


IN  CONGRESS.  37 

of  passages ;  notably  there  was  stricken  out  a 
passage  in  which  George  III.  was  denounced  for 
encouraging  the  slave-trade.  It  was  thought 
disingenuous  to  attack  him  for  tolerating  a 
traffic  conducted  by  Northern  ship-owners  and 
sustained  by  Southern  purchasers,  though  it  was 
true  that  sundry  attempts  of  the  Southern  colo- 
nies to  check  it  by  legislation  had  been  brought 
to  naught  by  the  king's  refusal  or  neglect  to 
ratify  the  enactments.  Congress  also  struck 
out  the  passage  in  which  Jefferson  declared  that 
the  hiring  of  foreign  mercenaries  by  the  English 
must  "  bid  us  renounce  forever  these  unfeeling 
brethren,"  and  cause  us  to  "  endeavor  to  forget 
our  former  love  for  them,  and  hold  them  as 
we  hold  the  rest  of  mankind,  enemies  in  war, 
in  peace  friends."  It  was  thought  better  to  say 
nothing  which  could  be  construed  as  an  animad- 
version on  the  English  people.  No  interpolation 
of  any  consequence  was  made. 

Jefferson  had  ample  cause  to  congratulate 
himself  upon  this  event  of  the  discussion.  While 
it  was  in  progress  and  his  paper  was  undergoing 
sharp  criticism  during  nearly  three  days,  he  felt 
far  from  cheerful.  He  himself  spoke  not  a 
word  in  the  debate,  partly,  perhaps,  from  a  sense 
of  incapacity  to  hold  his  own  in  so  strenuous  a 
contest  of  tongues,  but  also  deeming  it  a  "  duty 
to  be  .  .  .  a  passive  auditor  of  the  opinions  of 


38  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

others,  more  impartial  judges."  Dr.  Franklin 
sat  by  him,  and,  seeing  him  "  writhing  a  little 
under  the  acrimonious  criticisms  on  some  of  its 
parts,"  told  him,  "by  way  of  comfort,"  the 
since  famous  story  of  the  sign  of  John  Thomp- 
son, the  hatter.  The  burden  of  argument,  from 
which  Jefferson  wisely  shrank,  was  gallantly 
borne  by  John  Adams,  whom  Jefferson  grate- 
fully called  "  the  colossus  of  that  debate." 
Jefferson  used  afterward  to  take  pleasure  in 
tingeing  the  real  solemnity  of  the  occasion  with 
a  coloring  of  the  ludicrous.  The  debate,  he 
said,  seemed  as  though  it  might  run  on  inter- 
minably and  probably  would  have  done  so  at  a 
different  season  of  the  year.  But  the  weather 
was  oppressively  warm  and  the  room  occupied 
by  the  deputies  was  hard  by  a  stable,  whence 
the  hungry  flies  swarmed  thick  and  fierce, 
alighting  on  the  legs  of  the  delegates  and  biting 
hard  through  their  thin  silk  stockings.  Treason 
was  preferable  to  discomfort,  and  the  members 
voted  for  the  Declaration  and  hastened  to  the 
table  to  sign  it  and  escape  from  the  horse-fly. 
John  Hancock,  making  his  great  familiar  signa- 
ture, jestingly  said  that  John  Bull  could  read 
that  without  spectacles ;  then,  becoming  more 
serious,  began  to  impress  on  his  comrades  the 
necessity  of  their  "  all  hanging  together  in  this 
matter."  «  Yes,  indeed,"  interrupted  Franklin, 


IN  CONGRESS.  39 

"  we  must  all  hang  together,  or  assuredly  we 
shall  all  hang  separately."  "  When  it  comes 
to  the  hanging,"  said  Harrison,  the  "  luxurious 
heavy  gentleman  "  from  Virginia,  to  the  little 
meagre  Gerry  of  Massachusetts,  "  I  shall  have 
the  advantage  of  you  ;  it  will  be  all  over  with 
me,  long  before  you  have  done  kicking  in  the 
air."  Amid  such  trifling,  concealing  grave 
thoughts,  Jefferson  saw  his  momentous  docu- 
ment signed  at  the  close  of  that  summer  after- 
noon ;  he  had  acted  as  undertaker  for  the  royal 
colonies  and  as  midwife  for  the  United  States 
of  America. 

It  is  a  work  of  supererogation  to  criticise  a 
paper  with  which  fifty  millions  of  people  are  to- 
day as  familiar  as  with  the  Lord's  Prayer.  The 
faults  which  it  has  are  chiefly  of  style  and  are 
due  to  the  spirit  of  those  times,  a  spirit  bold, 
energetic,  sensible,  independent,  in  action  the 
very  best  but  in  talk  and  writing  much  too 
tolerant  of  broad  and  high  sounding  generaliza- 
tion. John  Adams  and  Pickering  long  after- 
ward, when  they  had  come  to  hate  Jefferson  as 
a  sort  of  political  arch-fiend,  blamed  it  for  lack 
of  originality.  Every  idea  in  it,  they  said,  had 
become  "  hackneyed  "  and  was  to  be  found  in 
half  a  dozen  earlier  expressions  of  public  opin- 
ion. The  assertion  was  equally  true,  absurd, 
and  malicious.  No  intelligent  man  could  sup- 


40  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

pose  that  the  Americans  had  been  concerned  in 
a  rebellious  discussion  for  years,  and  engaged  in 
actual  war  for  months,  without  having  fully 
comprehended  the  principles,  the  causes,  and 
the  justification  on  which  their  conduct  was 
based.  It  was  preposterous  to  demand  new  dis- 
coveries in  these  particulars.  Had  such  been 
possible,  they  would  have  been  undesirable; 
it  would  have  been  extreme  folly  for  Jefferson 
to  open  new  and  unsettling  discussions  at  this 
late  date.  Of  this  charge  against  his  produc- 
tion Jefferson  said,  with  perfect  wisdom  and  fair- 
ness, "  I  did  not  consider  it  as  any  part  of  my 
charge  to  invent  new  ideas  altogether  and  to  of- 
fer no  sentiment  which  had  ever  been  expressed 
before." 

The  statement  that  all  men  are  created 
"equal"  has  been  declared  liable  to  miscon- 
struction ;  but  no  intelligent  man  has  ever  mis- 
construed it,  unless  intentionally.  So  the  crit- 
icism may  be  disregarded  as  trivial.  Professor 
Tucker  justly  remarks  of  the  whole  paper  that 
it  is  "  consecrated  in  the  affections  of  Ameri- 
cans, and  praise  may  seem  as  superfluous  as 
censure  would  be  unavailing." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

AGAIN  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  BURGESSES. 

JEFFEESON  was  reelected  to  Congress  on 
June  20,  1776,  but  declined  to  serve.  At  the 
time  he  assigned  as  his  reason  "the  situation 
of  his  domestic  affairs  "  and  "  private  causes," 
into  which  "  the  delicacy  of  the  House  would 
not  require  him  to  enter  minutely."  Many 
years  afterward  he  declared  a  different  motive  : 
"  When  I  left  Congress,  in  1776,  it  was  in  the 
persuasion  that  our  whole  code  must  be  re- 
viewed and  adapted  to  our  republican  form  of 
government,  and  now  that  we  had  no  negative 
of  councils,  governors,  and  kings,  to  restrain  us 
from  doing  right,  that  it  should  be  corrected 
in  all  its  parts,  with  a  single  eye  to  reason  and 
the  good  sense  of  those  for  whose  government 
it  was  framed."  "  I  knew  that  our  legislation, 
under  the  regal  government,  had  many  very  vi- 
cious points  which  urgently  required  reforma- 
tion, and  I  thought  I  could  be  of  more  use  in  for- 
warding that  work." 

The  ex-colonies  reorganized  themselves  in  the 
shape  of  independent  states  very  readily.  On 


42  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

August  13,  1777,  Jefferson  wrote  to  Franklin 
that,  "  with  respect  to  the  State  of  Virginia  .  .  . 
the  people  seemed  to  have  laid  aside  the  mon- 
archical, and  taken  up  the  republican,  govern- 
ment with  as  much  ease  as  would  have  at- 
tended their  throwing  off  an  old  and  putting  on 
a  new  suit  of  clothes.  We  are  at  present  in  the 
complete  and  quiet  exercise  of  well-organized 
government."  Times  which  made  this  trans- 
figuration so  easy  were  naturally  ripe  for  other 
changes  also.  It  was  the  era  of  revolution,  of 
destruction  and  re-creation,  in  orderly  fashion 
to  be  sure,  so  far  as  possible  ;  but  still  the  tem- 
per of  the  hour  was  favorable  for  a  general 
revision  of  all  the  established  laws  and  forms 
of  society.  The  people  were  like  a  ploughed 
field  in  which  the  political  sower  might  scatter 
broadcast  new  ideas  and  innovating  doctrines 
with  fair  hope  of  an  early  harvest.  Jefferson, 
reformer  and  radical  by  nature,  instinctively 
knew  his  opportunity  and  went  forth  zealously 
to  this  task.  Certainly  he  cast  strong  and 
wholesome  seed,  and  with  liberal  hand,  into 
the  ready  social  furrows  around  him.  Much 
of  his  planting  struck  root  at  once  ;  much  more 
lay  in  the  ground  for  a  long  period,  so  that  it 
was  ten  years  before  some  of  the  bills  intro- 
duced by  him  during  the  two  years  of  his  ser- 
vice were  actually  passed  into  laws;  only  a 


AGAIN  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  BURGESSES.       43 

little  unfortunately  never  fructified.  The  re- 
sults of  his  labor  changed  not  only  the  sur- 
face but  the  fundamental  strata  of  the  social 
and  economical  system  of  Virginia.  Of  course 
he  did  not  accomplish  so  much  without  assist- 
ance. George  Mason,  George  Wythe,  and  Mad- 
ison, then  a  "  new  member  and  young,"  were 
efficient  coadjutors.  But  they  were  coadjutors 
and  lieutenants  only  ;  Jefferson  was  the  princi- 
pal and  the  leader. 

On  October  7,  1776,  he  took  his  seat  in  the 
House  of  Delegates  and  at  once  was  placed  on 
many  committees.  On  October  11  he  obtained 
leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  establishing  Courts  of 
Justice  throughout  the  new  State.  On  the  next 
day  he  obtained  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  to  en- 
able tenants  in  tail  to  convey  entailed  property 
in  fee  simple.  Two  days  later  he  reported  a 
bill  doing  away  with  the  whole  system  of  en- 
tail. It  was  an  audacious  move.  From  gener- 
ation to  generation  lands  and  slaves  —  almost 
the  only  valuable  kind  of  property  in  Virginia 
—  had  been  handed  down  protected  against 
creditors,  even  against  the  very  extravagance 
of  spendthrift  owners ;  and  it  was  largely  by 
this  means  that  the  quasi-nobility  of  the  colony 
had  succeeded  in  establishing  and  maintaining 
itself.  A  great  groan  seemed  to  go  up  from 
all  respectable  society  at  the  terrible  suggestion 


44  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

of  Jefferson,  a  suggestion  daringly  cast  before 
an  Assembly  thickly  sprinkled  with  influential 
delegates  strongly  bound  by  family  ties  and 
self-interest  to  defend  the  present  system.  Rec- 
ords of  the  times  fail  to  explain  the  sudden  and 
surprising  success  of  a  reform,  which  there  was 
every  reason  to  suppose  could  be  carried  through 
only  very  slowly  and  by  desperate  contests ;  we 
know  little  more  than  the  strange  fact  that  the 
whole  system  of  entail  in  Virginia  crashed  to 
pieces  almost  literally  in  a  day,  carrying  with 
it  an  "aristocracy"  somewhat  brummagem,  but 
the  only  one  which  has  ever  existed  in  the  terri- 
tory now  of  the  United  States. 

The  cognate  principle  of  primogeniture  fol- 
lowed, assailed  by  the  same  vigorous  hand.  At 
least,  implored  Pendleton,  if  the  eldest  son  may 
no  longer  inherit  all  the  lands  and  the  slaves  of 
his  father,  let  him  take  a  double  share.  No, 
said  Jefferson,  the  leveller,  not  till  he  can  eat 
a  double  allowance  of  food  and  do  a  double  al- 
lowance of  work.  So  an  equal  distribution  of 
property  was  established  among  the  children  of 
intestates ;  and  though  by  will  any  one  might 
still  prefer  an  eldest  son,  yet  the  effect  of  the 
law  upon  public  opinion  was  so  great  that  all 
distinctions  of  this  kind  rapidly  faded  away. 

Thus  was  a  great  social  revolution  wrought 
in  a  few  months  by  one  man.  In  his  grandiose, 


AGAIN  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  BURGESSES.       45 

humanitarian,  self-laudatory  vein,  Jefferson  aft- 
erward wrote  that  his  purpose  was,  "  instead  of 
an  aristocracy  of  wealth,  of  more  harm  and 
danger  than  benefit  to  society,  to  make  an  open- 
ing for  the  aristocracy  of  virtue  and  talent, 
which  nature  has  wisely  provided  for  the  direc- 
tion of  the  interests  of  society,  and  scattered 
with  equal  hand  through  all  its  conditions." 
But  his  brilliant  triumph  cost  him  a  price. 
That  distinguished  class,  whose  existence  as  a 
social  caste  had  been  forever  destroyed,  reviled 
the  destroyer  from  this  time  forth  with  relent- 
less animosity ;  and,  even  to  the  second  and 
third  generations,  the  descendants  of  many  of 
these  patrician  families  vindictively  cursed  the 
statesman  who  had  placed  them  on  a  level  with 
the  rest  of  their  countrymen. 

Jefferson's  next  important  assault  was  upon 
the  Established  Church.  Jefferson's  religious 
views  have  given  no  small  trouble  to  his  biog- 
raphers, who  have  been  at  much  pains  to  make 
him  out  a  sound  Christian  in  the  teeth  of  many 
charges  of  free-thinking.  There  is  little  evi- 
dence to  show  what  his  belief  was  at  this  period 
of  his  life.  Certainly  he  did  not  flout  or  openly 
reject  Christianity;  not  improbably  he  had  a 
liberal  tolerance  for  its  tenets  rather  than  any 
profound  faith  in  them.  On  August  10,  1787, 
in  a  letter  of  advice  to  his  young  ward,  Peter 


46  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Carr,  he  dwelt  upon  religion  at  much  length, 
telling  Carr  to  examine  the  question  independ- 
ently. He  added  instructions  so  colorless  that 
they  resemble  the  charge  of  a  painfully  impar- 
tial judge  to  a  jury.  But  in  this  especial  mat- 
ter labored  impartiality  usually  signifies  a  nega- 
tive prejudice.  At  least  Jefferson  showed  that 
he  did  not  regard  Christianity  as  so  established 
a  truth  that  it  was  to  be  asserted  dogmatically, 
and  though  he  so  carefully  seeks  to  conceal  his 
own  bias,  yet  one  instinctively  feels  that  this 
letter  was  not  written  by  a  believer.  Had  he 
believed,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word,  he 
would  have  been  unable  to  place  a  very  young 
man  midway  between  the  two  doors  of  belief 
and  unbelief,  setting  both  wide  open,  and  fur- 
nishing no  indication  as  to  which  led  to  error. 
Yet  as  any  inference  may  possibly  be  wrong,  it 
is  perhaps  safer  to  admit  that  the  problem  of 
his  present  faith  or  unfaith  is  not  surely  soluble, 
and  to  rest  content  with  saying  —  what  alone 
is  now  necessary  —  that  he  certainly  viewed 
with  just  abhorrence  the  mediaeval  condition  of 
religious  legislation  in  Virginia  in  1777. 

He  set  about  the  task  of  clearing  away  this 
dead  wood  no  less  vigorously  and  extensively 
than  he  had  hewed  at  the  obstructive  social 
timbers.  But,  strange  to  say,  the  apparently 
sapless  limbs  gave  the  stouter  resistance.  He 


AGAIN  IN  THE  HOUSE   OF  BURGESSES.       47 

aimed  at  complete  religious  freedom,  substan- 
tially such  as  now  exists  throughout  the  United 
States ;  but  he  was  able  only  to  induce  a  legis- 
lature, in  which  churchmen  largely  predomi- 
nated, to  take  some  initial  steps  in  that  direction. 
Yet  the  impetus  which  he  gave,  refreshed  by 
others  during  a  few  succeeding  years,  at  last 
brought  the  law-makers  to  the  goal,  so  that  in 
1786  the  full  length  of  his  reform  was  reached 
and  his  original  "  bill  for  establishing  religious 
freedom"  was  passed,  with  immaterial  amend- 
ments. 

Here  again  it  is  to  be  said  that  Jefferson  was 
in  that  position  in  which  alone  he  ever  won 
success  ;  he  was  the  mouthpiece  of  multitudes 
too  numerous  not  to  be  heard,  the  leader  of  a 
popular  movement  too  massive  to  be  obstructed. 
The  majority  of  citizens  were  dissenters  from 
the  established  Episcopal  Church,  and  were  re- 
solved no  longer  to  contribute  of  their  funds  for 
its  support.  Jefferson  says  that  "  the  first  re- 
publican legislature  .  .  .  was  crowded  with  pe- 
titions to  abolish  this  spiritual  tyranny."  This 
fact  gave  him  the  strength  that  he  needed.  He 
only  required,  but  he  always  did  require,  that 
confidence  and  inspiration  which  came  to  him 
from  the  sense  of  having  at  his  back  largely  su- 
perior numbers :  it  mattered  not  that  they  were 
ignorant,  so  that  they  were  much  the  greater 


48  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

number.  It  is  impossible  to  imagine  Jefferson 
combating  a  popular  error,  controlling  a  mis- 
taken people,  encountering  a  great  clamor  of 
the  masses.  From  these  earliest  days  of  his 
public  career  we  find  him  always  moving  and 
feeling  with  the  huge  multitude,  catching  with 
sensitive  ear  the  deep  mutterings  of  its  will, 
long  before  the  inarticulate  sound  was  intelli- 
gible to  others  in  high  places,  encouraged  by  its 
later  and  hoarser  outcry,  gathering  his  force  and 
power  from  its  presence,  his  incentive  and  per- 
sistence from  its  laudation. 

Almost  immediately  after  taking  his  seat 
among  the  delegates,  Jefferson  had  been  placed 
at  the  head  of  a  committee  of  five,  charged  with 
the  general  revision  of  all  the  laws  of  Virginia. 
It  was  an  enormous  task,  of  which  he  did  much 
more  than  his  just  share.  Some  of  the  legisla- 
tion referred  to  in  the  preceding  pages  found 
its  place  in  the  report  of  this  committee.  Other 
important  matters,  also  included  in  the  same  re- 
port, can  only  be  mentioned.  The  seat  of  gov- 
ernment was  removed  from  the  commercial 
metropolis  of  Williamsburg  to  the  small  but 
central  village  of  Richmond.  The  like  princi- 
ple has  since  prevailed  in  the  selection  of  much 
the  largest  proportion  of  our  state  capitals.  A 
bill  for  promoting  the  prompt  naturalization  of 
foreigners  gave  form  to  the  subsequent  practice 


AGAIN  IN  THE  HOUSE   OF  BURGESSES.       49 

of  the  country  in  this  matter,  and  was  only 
blameworthy  because  it  failed  to  protect  a  large 
and  easy  admission  by  any  checks  of  fitness  in  the 
way  of  knowledge  and  intelligence.  Like  much 
of  Jefferson's  work  it  was  too  democratic,  as  if  all 
men  must  be  fit  for  all  things  ;  also,  like  some 
of  his  work,  it  was  not  justified  by  his  own 
principles  declared  at  other  times  when  his 
thoughts  happened  to  be  taking  a  different 
direction.  A  code  of  punishment  for  crime  was 
drawn  up,  which  was  a  vast  improvement  upon 
the  merciless  severity  of  preceding  laws,  but 
which  retained  to  an  unjustifiable  extent  and 
against  the  wishes  of  Jefferson  the  principle  of 
retaliation.  An  elaborate  school  system  was  also 
devised  ;  but  the  narrow  prejudice  of  the  rich 
planters  prevented  it  from  ever  being  fully 
adopted  and  properly  set  in  working  order. 

As  has  been  intimated,  this  mass  of  legisla- 
tion, of  which  only  the  more  prominent  portions 
have  been  mentioned,  was  not  till  enacted  dur- 
ing the  two  years  of  Jefferson's  presence  in  the 
House  of  Delegates.  Much  of  it,  notably  in 
the  criminal  department,  lay  untouched  for  a 
long  time  ;  but  the  laws  reported  by  Jefferson 
formed  a  sort  of  reservoir  from  which  the  Leg- 
islature drew  from  time  to  time,  during  many 
following  years,  so  much  as  they  had  leisure  or 
inclination  to  use.  It  was  not  until  the  close 
4 


50  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

of  the  Revolutionary  War  that  leisure  was  found 
really  to  finish  the  whole  business.  But  when 
at  last  the  end  was  reached,  few  serious  altera- 
tions had  been  made  ;  and  though  it  would  be 
an  exaggeration  to  assert  that  by  1786-87  the 
statute-book  of  Virginia  had  become  a  Jeffer- 
sonian  code,  yet  it  is  within  the  truth  to  say 
that  the  impress  of  his  mind  was  in  every  part 
of  the  volume,  and  that  especially  the  social 
legislation  was  due  chiefly  to  his  influence. 

Only  in  one  grave  matter  —  gravest,  indeed, 
of  all  —  he  and  a  few  humane  and  noble  co- 
adjutors encountered  an  utter  defeat,  which  cost 
Virginia  a  great  price  of  retribution  in  years 
thereafter.  This  concerned  negro  slavery, 
Though  Jefferson  did  not,  like  his  friend 
Wythe,  emancipate  his  own  slaves,  yet  from  his 
early  years  he  had  been  strongly  opposed  to 
slavery,  as  were  many  of  the  best  and  wisest 
Virginians  of  that  day.  Now  the  committee  of 
revisers,  pondering  deeply  on  this  difficult  prob- 
lem, and  having  it  very  much  in  their  hearts  to 
cleanse  their  State  from  a  malady  which  they 
foresaw  must  otherwise  prove  fatal,  contented 
themselves  in  the  first  instance  with  returning 
in  their  report  a  "  mere  digest  of  the  existing 
laws  .  .  .  without  any  intimation  of  a  plan  for 
a  future  and  general  emancipation.  It  was 
thought  better  that  this  should  be  kept  back, 


AGAIN  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  BURGESSES.       51 

and  attempted  only  by  way  of  amendment, 
whenever  the  bill  should  be  brought  on.  The 
principles  of  the  amendment,  however,  were 
agreed  on,  that  is  to  say,  the  freedom  of  all  born 
after  a  certain  day,  and  deportation  at  a  proper 
age."  But  all  this  strategy  was  of  no  avail. 
"  It  was  found  that  the  public  mind  would  not 
yet  bear  the  proposition,  nor  will  it  bear  it  even 
to  this  day  ;  yet,"  continues  Jefferson,  writing 
in  his  autobiography  in  1821,  "  the  day  is  not 
distant  when  it  must  bear  and  adopt  it,  or  worse 
will  follow.  Nothing  is  more  certainly  written 
in  the  book  of  fate  than  that  these  people  are 
to  be  free."  How  fortunate  had  it  been  for 
Virginia  could  she  have  been  persuaded  by 
the  words  spoken  by  her  son,  wise  beyond  his 
time,  and  by  his  fellow  prophets  in  this  great 
cause. 

Yet  when  one  examines  Jefferson's  scheme 
in  its  details,  its  primordial  destiny  of  failure 
becomes  at  once  evident.  His  project  was  as 
follows:  —  All  negroes  born  of  slave  parents 
after  the  passing  of  the  act  were  to  be  free,  but 
to  a  certain  age  were  to  remain  with  their  par- 
ents, and  were  "then  to  be  brought  up  at  the 
public  expense  to  tillage,  arts,  or  sciences, 
according  to  their  geniuses,  till  the  females 
should  be  eighteen  and  the  males  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  when  they  should  be  colonized  to 


52  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

such  place  as  the  circumstances  of  the  time 
should  render  most  proper,  sending  them  out 
with  arms,  implements  of  household  and  of  the 
handicraft  arts,  seeds,  pairs  of  the  useful  domes- 
tic animals,  etc."  The  United  States  were 
then  "  to  declare  them  a  free  and  independent 
people,  and  extend  to  them  our  alliance  and 
protection,  till  they  have  acquired  strength  ;  and 
to  send  vessels  at  the  same  time  to  other  parts 
of  the  world  for  an  equal  number  of  white  in- 
habitants, to  induce  whom  to  migrate  hither 
proper  encouragements  were  to  be  proposed." 

In  the  notion  that  such  a  costly  and  elabo*- 
rate  scheme  might  be  carried  into  effect  we  get 
a  manifestation  of  the  most  dangerous  weakness 
of  Jefferson's  mind.  His  visionary  tendency 
would  thus  often  get  the  better  of  his  shrewder 
sense,  and  the  line  of  demarcation  between  the 
practicable  and  the  impracticable  would  then 
become  shadowy  or  wholly  obliterated  for  him. 
In  palliation  it  can  only  be  remembered  that  he 
lived  in  an  age  of  social  and  political  theorizing, 
and  that  he  was  a  man  eminently  characteristic 
of  his  era,  sensitive  to  its  influences  and  broadly 
reflecting  its  blunders  not  less  than  its  wisdom. 

Probably  even  at  this  early  date  the  slavery 
problem  had  become  insoluble.  Certainly  Jef- 
ferson's opinions  concerning  the  two  races  in 
their  possible  relations  towards  each  other  ren- 


AGAIN  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  BURGESSES.       53 

dered  it  insoluble  by  him.  His  observation 
had  thoroughly  convinced  him  of  a  truth,  which 
all  white  men  always  have  believed  and  prob- 
ably always  will  believe  in  the  private  depths 
of  their  hearts,  that  the  negro  is  inferior  to  the 
white  in  mental  capacity.  He  also  felt  sure 
that  "  the  two  races,  equally  free,  cannot  live 
in  the  same  government."  The  attempt,  he 
predicted,  would  "  divide  Virginians  into  parties 
and  produce  convulsions  which  would  probably 
never  end  but  in  the  extermination  of  the  one 
or  the  other  race."  Perhaps  in  this  he  was 
wrong.  Yet  holding  these  two  firm  convictions 
it  is  impossible  to  see  what  better  plan  he  could 
have  adopted  than  that  which  he  did  adopt, 
impossible  though  it  was  of  execution.  At 
least  his  prescience  of  a  condition  of  things  at 
which,  as  he  said,  "  human  nature  must  shud- 
der," proves  his  social  and  political  foresight. 
One  practical  measure  he  did  carry.  Vir- 
ginia, while  still  a  colony,  had  made  many 
efforts,  rendered  futile  by  royal  obstruction,  to 
stop  the  importation  of  slaves.  In  1778,  "in 
the  very  first  session  held  under  the  republican 
government,"  Jefferson  introduced  a  bill  for 
this  purpose  which  was  readily  passed  without 
opposition.  With  this  he  was  much  and  justly 
pleased,  saying,  "  it  will  in  some  measure  stop 
the  increase  of  this  great  political  and  moral 


54  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

evil,  while  the  minds  of  our  citizens  may  be 
ripening  for  a  complete  emancipation  of  human 
nature."  What  he  meant  by  this  vague  and 
absurd  phrase,  so  characteristic  of  his  habits  of 
expression,  it  is  not  easy  to  say,  and  for  the 
moment  one  almost  forgets  the  high  deserts  of 
the  reformer  in  irritation  at  his  chatter  about 
"  the  complete  emancipation  of  human  nature." 


CHAPTER  V. 

GOVERNOR   OF   VIRGINIA. 

PATRICK  HENRY,  first  Governor  of  the  inde- 
pendent State  of  Virginia,  served,  by  reelections, 
three  successive  years,  and  was  then,  by  the 
constitution,  ineligible  for  another  term.  In 
January,  1779,  the  Legislature  chose  Jefferson 
to  succeed  him  on  the  following  June  1.  The 
honor  was  not  greatly  to  be  coveted,  yet  Jeffer- 
son found  a  competitor  for  it  in  the  friend  of 
his  youth,  John  Page,  over  whom  he  triumphed 
by  a  very  few  votes.  The  old  good  feeling  be- 
tween the  two  contestants  was  very  creditably 
preserved  throughout  the  political  campaign, 
and  perhaps  by  the  time  Jefferson  left  office  he 
would  have  been  glad  if  Page  had  been  the  suc- 
cessful candidate,  and  Page  might  rejoice  at  the 
opposite  conclusion.  For  in  this  chapter  of 
Jefferson's  life  the  task  of  his  biographers  has 
been,  to  encounter  the  widespread  impression 
that  his  administration  was  disgracefully  inef- 
ficient. Mr.  Randall  especially  has  discussed  this 
matter  elaborately,  and  his  facts  and  arguments, 
when  rescued  dripping  from,  the  sea  of  rhetoric 


56  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

and  fine  writing  in  which  he  nearly  drowns 
them,  appear  to  establish  a  satisfactory  defence. 
Yet  a  man  in  public  life  does  not  achieve  a 
complete  success  when  he  can  be  defended 
against  charges  of  gross  incompetency  ;  and  the 
negative  assertion  that  Jefferson  did  not  make  a 
bad  governor  is  by  no  means  equivalent  to  the 
positive  commendation  that  he  made  a  really 
good  one.  The  truth  is,  that  he  was  not  fitted 
to  be  a  u  war-governor,"  and  though  he  did  as 
well  as  he  could,  he  did  not  do  so  well  as  some 
others  might  have  done. 

Until  very  nearly  the  close  of  Henry's  third 
term,  Virginia  had  enjoyed  a  happy  immunity 
from  invasion.  Otherwise,  however,  she  had 
borne  her  full  share  of  patriotic  burdens,  and  it 
may  be  imagined  that  the  willing  steed,  spurred 
for  three  years  by  so  hard  a  rider  as  Henry, 
was  somewhat  breathless  and  exhausted  when 
he  left  the  saddle.  So,  indeed,  Jefferson  found 
it.  Men,  horses,  and  food,  Virginia  had  lavishly 
given ;  also  arms  and  money,  so  far  as  she  had 
been  able.  At  last  the  point  was  close  at  hand 
at  which  further  contributions  involved  such 
severe  suffering  that  they  must  inevitably  come 
slowly  and  reluctantly.  Nevertheless  Jeffer- 
son's sole  business  was  to  keep  the  stream  still 
flowing  and  replenished.  At  first  he  was  able 
to  do  surprisingly  well.  When  he  called  for  re- 


GOVERNOR   OF  VIRGINIA.  57 

cruits  for  Greene's  army  in  the  Carolinas,  many 
farmers  came  gallantly  forward  from  the  al- 
ready sorely  depleted  fields.  By  September, 
1780,  there  were  not  muskets  for  the  men  who 
were  willing  to  march  ;  neither  a  shilling  in 
the  treasury ;  wagons  and  horses  could  be  had 
only  by  impressment,  a  hazardous  pressure  to 
put  upon  a  people  fighting  for  freedom.  But  it 
was  inevitable,  and  it  was  applied  to  all  alike  ; 
a  wagon,  a  pair  of  horses,  and  two  negro  drivers 
were  taken  from  Governor  Jefferson's  own  farm. 
A  month  later  he  hopes  the  new  levies  "  will  be 
all  shod,"  and  cannot  say  "  what  proportion 
will  have  blankets,"  though  he  is  purchasing 
"  every  one  which  can  be  found  out  ;  there  is  a 
prospect  of  furnishing  about  half  of  them  with 
tents." 

It  was  a  cruel  blow,  soon  after,  to  learn  that 
a  large  proportion  of  these  scarce  and  valuable 
supplies  were  destroyed  or  captured,  and  that 
Cornwallis,  with  his  face  set  northward,  was 
leading  a  victorious  army  towards  Virginia.  It 
was  an  almost  miraculous  good  fortune  which 
checked  his  march  a  short  distance  from  the 
border.  But  in  the  moment  of  apprehension 
Jefferson  was  bitterly  blamed  for  having  use- 
lessly expended  Virginian  resources  in  Carolina. 
The  accusation  was  grossly  unjust.  The  Gov- 
ernor had  been  perfectly  right  in  sending  all 


58  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  men  and  supplies  he  could  muster  to  the 
places  where  the  fighting  was  going  forward. 
How  else  was  the  war  to  be  maintained?  What 
better  course  could  be  devised,  not  only  for 
securing  a  general  and  ultimate  success  but  also 
for  keeping  actual  war  at  a  distance  from  Vir- 
ginia ?  The  blunder  would  have  been  to  send 
meagre  supplies,  and  retain  a  still  insufficient 
reserve  at  home,  thus  allowing  the  English  to 
conquer  in  detail. 

In  another  matter,  more  in  his  line,  Jefferson 
again  showed  good  judgment.  The  enterprising 
frontier  fighter,  General  George  Rogers  Clarke, 
by  a  bold  and  soldierly  movement  in  the  far 
northwestern  pa.rt  of  the  State,  captured  the 
British  Colonel  Hamilton.  This  officer  had 
been  accused  of  many  atrocities,  and  though  the 
charges  probably  outran  the  truth,  yet  Jefferson 
was  justified  in  believing  him  a  guilty  man.1  He 
accordingly  ordered  the  Colonel  and  two  more 
officers  to  be  put  in  irons  and  closely  confined. 
The  British  General,  Phillips,  protested.  Jef- 
ferson referred  the  matter  to  Washington,  who, 
with  much  hesitation  and  apparent  reluctance, 

i  Professor  Tucker  in  his  Life  of  Jefferson  undertakes  to 
defend  Hamilton.  But  his  defence  amounts  to  little  or  nothing 
more  than  that  he  knew  Hamilton,  and  thought  him  quite  too 
good  a  fellow  and  too  much  of  a  gentleman  to  have  been 
guilty  of  the  behavior  alleged  against  him. 


GOVERNOR  OF  VIRGINIA.  59 

advised  a  mitigation  of  the  extreme  severity. 
But  the  dose  was  wholesome  and  Jefferson's 
stern  readiness  to  administer  it  had  a  salutary 
effect.  He  had  in  his  keeping  a  large  number 
of  British  prisoners,  including  many  of  high 
rank,  and  his  avowed  purpose,  thus  substantially 
enforced,  to  repay  cruelty  in  kind  and  to  re- 
taliate hangings,  irons,  close  confinement,  and 
prison  ships  with  identical  measures  upon  his 
own  paft,  undoubtedly  checked  the  brutal  ten- 
dencies of  too  many  of  the  English  officers. 

Almost  the  last  occurrence  in  Virginia  under 
Governor  Henry's  administration  had  been  a 
British  raid.  A  dozen  vessels  landed  some  two 
thousand  troops,  who  burned  and  ravaged  ex- 
tensively for  a  few  days,  wholly  unmolested, 
and  then  returned  as  they  had  come.  The 
affair  was  a  dangerous  indication  to  the  Eng- 
lish of  the  destruction  which  they  could  easily 
accomplish  in  this  great  reservoir  of  supplies. 
Yet  it  was  not  until  late  in  October,  1780,  that 
they  repeated  the  enterprise.  On  the  22d  of 
that  month  news  came  to  Governor  Jefferson 
that  a  fleet  of  sixty  sail  had  anchored  in  Hamp- 
ton Roads  ;  four  of  the  vessels  were  armed,  while 
transports  were  putting  on  shore  a  land  force 
roughly  estimated  at  upwards  of  twenty-five 
hundred  men.  This  was  terrible  intelligence  in 
a  thinly-settled  country,  where  it  must  be  long 


60  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

before  an  adequate  defensive  array  could  be 
assembled.  Yet  even  men  were  more  plentiful 
than  muskets,  and  Jefferson  sadly  wrote  :  "  it  is 
mortifying  to  suppose  that  a  people,  able  and 
zealous  to  contend  with  their  enemy,  should  be 
reduced  to  fold  their  arms  for  want  of  the 
means  of  defence."  Two  or  three  weeks  later 
"  the  prospect  of  arms  "  continued  to  be  "  very 
bad  indeed."  Moreover,  in  Albemarle  County, 
hard  by  the  anchorage  ground,  there  were 
some  four  thousand  prisoners  of  war,  Bur- 
goyne's  army,  who  had  been  consigned  to  Vir- 
ginia for  safe-keeping.  Cornwallis  having 
lately  defeated  Gates  badly  at  Camden,  was 
less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  the 
Virginian  border.  A  messenger  from  General 
Leslie,  the  commander  of  the  invading  body, 
was  captured,  having  in  his  mouth  a  little  quid 
containing  a  note  to  Cornwallis  indicating  a 
plan  to  unite  both  armies.  In  such  imminent 
jeopardy  the  State  and  the  Governor  stood  help- 
less, but  ultimately  were  saved  by  good  fortune 
and  lack  of  enterprise  on  the  part  of  the  Eng- 
lish. The  North  Carolina  patriots  harassed 
Cornwallis  till  he  actually  fell  back  to  the 
southward.  Leslie  lay  a  month  in  camp,  mak- 
ing no  movement,  then  embarked  and  sailed 
away.  Virginia  had  another  surprising  respite. 
The  third  time  the  State  was  to  fare  worse. 


GOVERNOR  OF  VIRGINIA.  61 

On  the  morning  of  Sunday,  December  31, 1780, 
Jefferson  again  received  intelligence  that  a  fleet 
of  twenty-seven  vessels  had  entered  Chesapeake 
Bay  on  the  preceding  day.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  case  heretofore,  it  cannot  be  de- 
nied that  he  was  now  culpably  remiss.  It  is 
true  that  he  did  not  know  that  the  fleet  might 
not  be  French,  or  that  its  destination  might  not 
be  Baltimore.  But  he  did  know  that  it  cer- 
tainly might  be  British,  that  its  destination 
might  be  William sburg,  Petersburg,  or  Rich- 
mond, and  that  in  such  event  the  best  speed 
could  not  collect  the  Virginian  levies  rapidly 
enough.  It  was  the  dead  of  winter,  not  a  se- 
vere season  in  Virginia,  and  when  the  husband- 
man is  idle.  It  is  impossible  to  suggest  a  satis- 
factory reason  why  Jefferson  should  not,  in  such 
probable  and  instant  emergency,  have  prepared 
at  once  for  the  worst.  He  did  not ;  he  simply 
dispatched  General  Nelson,  with  abundant  au- 
thority, to  the  lower  river  counties.  Then  he 
waited. 

On  Tuesday  morning,  fifty  valuable  but 
wasted  hours  after  the  first  news  reached  him, 
he  at  last  got  definite  information  which  showed 
him  how  stupid  he  had  been.  The  fleet  was 
hostile  and  was  coming  up  the  James.  Then 
he  did  what  he  ought  to  have  done  at  eight 
o'clock  A.  M.  of  the  preceding  Sunday ;  he  or- 


62  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  ' 

dered  out  forty-seven  hundred  militia-men  from 
the  nearest  counties.  Furthermore,  having  at 
last  got  fairly  at  work,  he  showed  considerable 
personal  energy.  He  got  the  public  papers  and 
some  stores  and  articles  of  value  across  the 
river  to  a  less  exposed  place,  and  he  galloped 
about  the  country  terribly  bus}'  and  excited,  till 
he  killed  his  horse  and  was  obliged  to  mount  an 
unbroken  colt.  Eighty-four  hours  he  was  in 
the  saddle.  But  the  enemy  cared  little  for  all 
his  prancing  to  and  fro  on  blooded  steed  or 
raw  colt.  They  ascended  the  river  and  entered 
Richmond,  burned  and  destroyed  to  their 
hearts*  content,  recmbarked  and  dropped  down 
stream  again.  The  militia  were  only  beginning 
to  assemble  when  the  British  were  back  en- 
trenching themselves  in  Leslie's  deserted  camp. 
The  Governor  returned  to  the  devastated  village 
which  constituted  his  capital.  He  had  shown 
that  he  was  deficient  in  prompt  decision ;  in  a 
word,  that  he  was  not  the  man  for  the  place  and 
the  times. 

The  invaders  seemed  to  be  established  for  a 
long  stay  and  with  slight  chance  of  being  dis- 
turbed ;  for  the  "  fatal  want  of  arms  "  still  con- 
tinued. There  was  not  a  regular  soldier  in  the 
State,  nor  arras  to  put  in  the  hands  of  the  mil- 
itia. Matters  were  nearly  as  bad  as  in  North 
Carolina  where,  Jefferson  wrote,  the  Americans 


GOVERNOR  OF  VIRGINIA.  63 

could  be  saved  only  by  the  "  moderation  and 
caution  "  of  their  adversaries  —  a  slender  de- 
pendence indeed  !  It  added  to  the  exasperation 
of  the  Virginians  that  the  traitor,  Arnold,  was 
in  command  upon  their  soil.  Jefferson  tried  to 
devise  a  scheme  for  kidnapping  him  ;  but  it 
may  be  conceived  that  such  a  bird  was  not  to 
be  snared  by  such  a  fowler. 

For  several  months  the  British  kept  Virginia 
in  a  state  of  nervous  inquietude.  It  is  easy  to 
imagine  how  Jefferson,  as  the  winter  and  spring 
crept  forward  on  leaden  heels,  must  have  count- 
ed first  the  months,  then  the  weeks,  then  even 
the  very  days,  which  had  yet  to  elapse  before 
his  painful  responsibility  would  reach  its  end. 
For  the  second  year  of  his  administration  would 
close  on  June  1,  and  he  had  wisely  resolved  not 
to  he  a  candidate  for  reelection.  Possibly  mut- 
terings  of  dissatisfaction  alarmed  him  for  his 
success.  But  in  his  autobiography  he  says  : 
u  From  a  belief  that,  under  the  pressure  of  the 
invasion  under  which  we  were  then  laboring, 
the  public  would  have  more  confidence  in  a 
military  chief ;  and  that,  the  military  com- 
mander being  invested  with  the  civil  power 
also,  both  might  be  wielded  with  more  energy, 
promptitude,  and  effect  for  the  defence  of  the 
State,  I  resigned  the  administration  at  the  end 
of  my  second  year."  There  was  some  talk 


64  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

among  the  discouraged  Virginians,  during  the 
dark  days  now  close  at  hand,  of  setting  over 
themselves  a  dictator.  This  classic  but  mis-- 
taken expedient  Jefferson  had  the  good  sense 
to  oppose ;  he  afterward  said  that  "  the  very 
thought  alone  was  treason  against  the  people, 
was  treason  against  mankind  in  general."  For- 
tunately, his  remonstrances  prevailed  in  due 
season. 

April  came  and  was  fast  passing.  Only  May 
remained  before  the  wearied  Governor  would  be 
governor  no  longer.  But  fortune  had  yet  one 
more  buffet  to  deal  him  at  parting.  In  the  lat- 
ter part  of  April,  Cornwallis  set  out  on  a  north- 
ward march,  and,  laying  waste  as  he  advanced, 
came  into  Virginia ;  by  May  20  he  was  in  Pe- 
tersburg. The  State  lay  at  his  mercy.  Jeffer- 
son could  devise  nothing  better  than  to  implore 
Washington  to  hasten  to  its  rescue.  The  Legis- 
lature, which  had  thrice  already  since  the  year 
came  in  fled  in  alarm  from  Richmond,  had  been 
adjourned  to  meet  on  May  24  at  the  safer  vil- 
lage of  Charlottesville,  at  the  foot  of  the  hills 
on  which  was  Monticello.  It  was  not  till  May 
28  that  a  quorum  came  together  and  then  they 
deferred  from  day  to  day  the  election  of  a  new 
governor.  Jefferson's  term  expired,  but  still  he 
had  to  hold  over,  since  no  successor  had  been 
chosen.  Things  were  in  this  condition  when, 


GOVERNOR  OF  VIRGINIA.  65 


on  June  4,  the  early  summer  sun  not  having 
yet  risen,  a  hard-ridden  steed  was  reined  up  at 
the  Governor's  door.  The  rider  had  galloped 
in  the  night  from  an  eastward  county-town  to 
say  that  a  small  body  of  British  cavalry  under 
the  dreaded  Tarlton  was  pushing  rapidly  along 
the  road  to  Charlottesville  and  Monticello ; 
they  would  probably  be  hardly  three  hours  be- 
hind him.  In  this  emergency  Jefferson  cer- 
tainly showed  no  lack  of  personal  courage. 
That  is  to  say,  he  was  not  panic-stricken.  He 
did  not  go  to  Charlottesville,  because  he  wisely 
reflected  that  the  members  of  the  Legislature 
were  able  to  run  away  from  the  town  without 
his  assistance.  He  stayed  tranquilly  at  home, 
breakfasted,  sent  away  his  family,  and  concealed 
his  plate  and  papers,  all  very  leisurely.  Indeed, 
he  owed  his  escape  from  capture  more  to  good 
luck  than  to  any  intelligent  precaution  on  his 
own  part.  Had  he  fallen  into  the  enemy's 
hands  he  would  have  been  thought  to  have 
acted  stupidly.  As  it  turned  out  he  did  get 
safely  away  into  the  woods,  and  Colonel  Tarl- 
ton, disappointed  of  his  prey,  had  only  to  ride 
back  again.  But  the  ignominious  scattering  of 
all  the  ruling  officials  of  the  State  served  to 
fasten  still  another  irritating,  though  really  un- 
deserved, stigma  upon  Jefferson's  administra- 
tion. It  was  the  more  vexatious  because  he 
5 


66  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ought  to  have  been  freed  several  days  before 
from  so  much  as  a  technical  responsibility.  He 
was  also  then,  and  long  afterward,  made  very 
angry  by  imputations  upon  his  courage,  as 
though  his  flight  had  been  ignominious.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  it  was  not  so.  He  could 
hardly  have  been  expected  to  stand  alone  in  his 
doorway  and  shoot  at  the  body  of  dragoons. 

Tarlton's  men  appear  to  have  taken  nothing 
at  Jefferson's  house  beyond  food  and  drink,  in 
which  refreshment  even  the  owner  himself  could 
hardly  have  wished  to  stint  them  in  that  land 
of  unquestioning  hospitality.  Jefferson  after- 
ward said  :  "  Tarlton  behaved  very  genteelly 
with  me."  But  at  another  of  his  farms,  which 
fell  within  reach  of  Cornwallis'  force,  Jefferson 
fared  worse.  It  was  not  long  since  certain  Brit- 
ish commissioners,  nominally  sent  on  a  futile 
errand  of  reconciliation,  had  declared  that  the 
inevitable  conclusion  of  events  must  be  that  the 
colonies  would  become  dependents  of  the  French 
crown,  and  that  England  designed  to  make  the 
gain  of  as  little  value  to  France  as  possible. 
The  innuendo  of  this  announcement  was  soon 
made  the  basis  of  practical  operations ;  and  the 
British  armies,  devoting  themselves  more  to 
devastation  than  to  warfare,  harried  the  country 
upon  all  sides.  Jefferson  suffered  with  the  rest, 
and  has  left  a  formidable  record  of  the  pillage. 


GOVERNOR  OF  VIRGINIA.  67 

All  his  husbanded  crops  and  one  hundred  and 
fifty  cattle,  sheep,  and  hogs  were  seized  for 
food ;  all  his  growing  crops  were  wantonly 
destroyed,  and  all  his  fences  were  burned  ;  not 
only  were  his  many  valuable  horses  taken,  but 
the  throats  of  colts  too  young  to  be  used  were 
barbarously  cut.  Thirty  slaves  also  were  car- 
ried away.  "  Had  this  been  to  give  them  free- 
dom," Jefferson  said,  Cornwallis  u  would  have 
done  right ;  but  it  was  to  consign  them  to  in- 
evitable death  from  the  small-pox  and  putrid 
fever  then  raging  in  his  camps,"  as  in  fact  be- 
came their  wretched  fate.  It  is  not  surprising 
that  in  later  days  Jefferson  cherished  a  bitter 
hostility  towards  a  nation  which  had  not  only 
curtailed  his  popularity  and  reputation  among 
his  countrymen,  but  had  also  attacked  his  prop- 
erty in  a  spirit  of  extermination. 

The  censorious  temper  which  many  Virgin- 
ians felt  towards  Jefferson  found  open  expres- 
sion in  the  Legislature  during  the  last  few 
months  of  his  administration  ;  and  even  some 
preparation,  though  just  how  much  cannot  be 
accurately  ascertained,  was  made  for  an  investi- 
gation. Certain  it  is  that  Mr.  George  Nich- 
olas moved  for  an  inquiry  at  the  next  session,1 

1  Jefferson  afterward  was  on  friendly  terms  with  Nicholas, 
saying  that  he  was  an  able  and  honest  man,  and  that  this 
motion  was  the  blunder  of  an  ardent  youth.  Nicholas  also 
afterward  made  the  amende  honorable  to  Jefferson. 


68  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

and  that  he  was  by  no  means  without  support- 
ers. The  prevalence  of  this  sort  of  talk  cut 
Jefferson  deeply  and  he  went  out  of  office  in  a 
very  bitter  frame  of  mind,  resolved  to  leave  for- 
ever the  public  service.  He  only  wished  to  re- 
turn to  the  next  session  of  the  Legislature  in 
order  to  court  the  threatened  inquiry.  To 
enable  him  to  do  this  a  member  resigned,  and 
then  Albemarle  County  paid  him  the  handsome 
honor  of  electing  him  one  of  its  delegates, 
actually  by  an  unanimous  vote.  Having  taken 
his  seat,  he  stated  to  the  House  his  wish  to 
meet  the  charges  lately  made  against  him.  No 
one  replied.  He  then  read  certain  "  objections  " 
which  had  been  informally  furnished  to  him  by 
Nicholas,  and  gave  his  reply  to  them.  Still  no 
one  rose  to  assail  him.  It  was  in  December, 
1781,  and  the  recent  surrender  of  Cornwallis  at 
Yorktown  had  probably  softened  somewhat  the 
recent  asperities.  His  friends  became  suffi- 
ciently emboldened  to  offer  a  resolution,  which 
was  readily  passed,  thanking  him  for  his  "  im- 
partial, upright,  and  attentive  "  administration, 
bearing  testimony  to  his  "  ability,  rectitude,  and 
integrity,"  and  avowing  a  purpose  thus  to  re- 
move "all  unmerited  censure."  The  closing 
phrase  might  mean  much  or  little,  and  the  ad- 
jectives and  nouns,  shrewdly  selected,  did  not 
express  exhaustive  praise  of  an  administration 


GOVERNOR  OF  VIRGINIA.  69 

in  time  of  war.  But  the  whole  constituted  a 
mollifying  application  and  an  agreement  to 
have  done  with  unkindly  criticism.  Washington 
also  had  closed  with  some  courteous  words  a  let- 
ter, which  he  had  lately  found  occasion  to  write 
to  Jefferson,  making  a  sort  of  certificate  of  good 
character.  With  such  comfort  as  he  could  find 
in  these  testimonials,  Jefferson  withdrew  to 
private  life.  He  had  had  the  misfortune  to  be 
placed  in  a  position  for  which  he  was  ill  adapt- 
ed, and  in  which  perhaps  no  one  could  have 
given  satisfaction.  He  had  merited  some  praise 
and  some  censure,  and  got  less  of  the  former 
and  more  of  the  latter  than  was  quite  just.  Al- 
together he  had  had  decidedly  hard  fortune. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

IN  CONGRESS  AGAIN. 

THE  ex-Governor  had  experienced  a  wound 
far  too  deep  to  be  healed  by  the  gentle  pallia- 
tive administered  by  the  Legislature.  In  an 
extremely  bitter  and  resentful  frame  of  mind, 
he  moodily  secluded  himself  at  home,  and 
reiterated  upon  every  opportunity  his  resolve 
never  again  to  be  drawn  forth  into  public  life. 
He  busied  himself  with  his  plantations,  the 
education  of  his  children,  and  the  care  of  his 
invalid  wife.  In  the  winter  months,  early  in 
1782,  he  put  the  finishing  touches  to  a  labor 
which  he  had  begun  in  the  preceding  spring,  his 
well-known  and  useful  "Notes  on  Virginia." 
In  the  spring  of  the  same  year  he  obstinately 
refused  to  attend  the  session  of  the  Legislature 
though  he  was  still  a  member.  His  enemies  se- 
verely criticised  this  conduct,  which  his  friends 
could  not  easily  defend  :  Madison  privately  de- 
plored such  a  display  of  irreconcilable  temper, 
and  Monroe  more  openly  wrote  him  a  plain 
letter  of  rebuke.  But  he  was  not  to  be  moved ; 
Jiis  only  reply  Was  a  reiteration  of  his  rankling 


IN  CONGRESS  AGAIN.  71 

sense  of  injury  and  his  obstinate  purpose  to 
have  done  forever  with  the  public  service. 

Yet  it  is  probable  that  a  more  amiable  incen- 
tive for  such  conduct  mingled  with  his  anger, 
though  he  was  too  pioud  and  too  hurt  to  name 
it.  For  his  wife  was  in  very  ill  health.  In 
May,  1782,  she  lay  in  with  her  sixth  child, 
and  thereafter  there  could  be  no  real  hope  of 
her  recovery.  Jefferson  was  tender  and  assid- 
uous in  his  care  of  her  as  it  was  possible  for 
man  to  be,  and  when  at  last,  in  September,  the 
final  day  came,  the  scene  was  a  terrible  one. 
For  three  weeks  after  she  died  he  did  not  leave 
his  room  ;  afterward  he  had  recourse  to  long 
wanderings  in  the  solitary  wood-paths  of  the 
mountain.  His  oldest  daughter  was  his  constant 
companion  during  these  weeks  of  intense  grief, 
of  which  she  has  left  a  harrowing  picture,  show- 
ing Jefferson  to  have  been  not  only  affectionate 
but  very  emotional  in  temperament. 

It  is  said  that  Mrs.  Jefferson,  almost  in  the 
extreme  moment,  begged  her  husband  never  to 
give  her  children  a  stepmother,  and  the  pledge 
which  he  then  so  solemnly  made,  he  ever 
faithfully  kept.  Henceforth  Martha,  his  first- 
born child,  was  to  hold  the  warmest  corner  in 
his  heart.  She  and  Mary,  the  fourth  child, 
were  the  only  ones  of  six  that  were  born  to  him 
who  lived  to  mature  years,  and  only  Martha 


72  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

survived  him.  But  the  children  of  his  brother- 
in-law,  Dabney  Carr,  who  had  died  young  and 
poor,  had  been  taken  into  his  home,  and  re- 
mained there  like  his  own.  He  was  not  only 
very  kind  and  fond  towards  all  these  young 
people  of  his  household,  but  he  gave  to  their 
bringing  up  a  conscientious  and  untiring  care.1 
The  letters  which  he  wrote  to  them,  and  which 
have  been  reproduced  with  encomiums  by  ad- 
miring biographers,  are  always  absurdly  didac- 
tic and  often  remind  the  reader  of  the  effusions 
of  the  late  Mrs.  Barbauld,  or  of  the  virtue  and 
wisdom  enshrined  in  the  pages  of  "  Sanford  and 
Merton  ;  "  but  they  are  kindly  and  indicative  of 
a  lively  interest. 

In  September,  1776,  Congress  nominated 
Jefferson,  with  Franklin  and  Deane,  to  frame 
a  treaty  of  alliance  and  commerce  with  France  ; 
but  he  declined  the  mission.  In  June,  1781,  he 
was  again  deputed  to  go  abroad,  with  Franklin, 
Adams,  Jay,  and  Laurens,  to  negotiate  a  treaty 

1  The  list  of  Jefferson's  children  is  as  follows  :  —  Martha 
Jefferson,  born  September  27,  1772,  married  to  Thomas  Mann 
Randolph  on  February  23,  1790,  died  October  10,  1836  ;  Jane 
Randolph  Jefferson,  born  April  3,  1774,  died  September  1775; 
a  son,  born  May  28,  1777,  died  June  14,  1777;  Mary  (or 
Maria)  Jefferson,  born  August  1,  1778,  married  to  John  W. 
Eppes  on  October  13,  1797,  and  died  April  17,  1804 ;  a  daugh- 
ter, born  November  3,  1780,  died  April  15,  1781 ;  Lucy  Eliza- 
beth Jefferson,  born  May  8,  1782,  died 1784. 


IN  CONGRESS  AGAIN.  73 

of  peace;  but  again  he  pleaded  personal  reasons 
as  an  excuse.  Two  months  after  the  death  of 
his  wife  news  came  to  him  at  the  seat  of  his 
friend  Colonel  Gary,  at  Ampthill,  where  he  was 
nursing  his  own  children  and  the  young  Carrs 
through  the  process  of  inoculation,  that  he  had 
been  again  appointed  upon  the  same  duty.  The 
proposition  came  opportunely,  offering  an  ac- 
tivity and  change  of  scene  at  once  wholesome 
and  agreeable.  He  accepted,  and  made  ready 
for  departure ;  but  the  presence  of  French 
cruisers  off  the  coast  delayed  the  sailing  of 
vessels,  and  before  he  could  get  away  news 
came  showing  that  the  negotiations  were  so  far 
advanced  that  his  presence  would  be  substan- 
tially useless.  So  in  February,  1783,  he  again 
returned  home. 

But  another  door  for  reentrance  into  public 
life  was  forthwith  opened.  On  June  6,  1783, 
he  was  chosen  by  the  Virginia  Legislature  a 
member  of  Congress,  whither  he  repaired  in 
November  following.  That  body  had  fallen 
into  something  very  like  contempt,  and  many 
gentlemen  conceived  that  the  honor,  such  as  it 
was,  of  membership  need  not  entail  the  trouble 
of  attendance.  So  it  happened  that,  though 
the  treaty  of  peace  was  to  be  ratified  before  a 
certain  near  date,  only  seven  States  were  rep- 
resented, whereas  the  assent  of  nine  was  neces- 


74  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

sary.  Some  members  proposed  that  the  seven 
should  ratify,  upon  the  chance  that  Great  Brit- 
ain would  never  detect  the  insufficiency.  But 
this  dishonorable  expedient  was  vigorously  op- 
posed by  Jefferson  and  others.  At  last  an  ur- 
gent appeal  brought  in  some  of  the  delinquent 
members ;  and  Jefferson  had  the  pleasure  of 
signing  the  treaty  which  established  the  In- 
dependence declared  in  his  document  seven 
years  before.  It  fell  to  him,  also,  to  play  an 
important  part  in  arranging  the  ceremonial  of 
Washington's  resignation. 

The  need  of  an  executive  power  more  per- 
manent than  this  intermittent  Congress  led 
Jefferson  to  propose  a  "  committee  of  the 
States,"  to  be  composed  of  one  member  from 
each  State  and  to  remain  in  session  during  the 
recesses.  The  plan  was  adopted,  but  resulted 
in  complete  failure  by  reason  of  factions  in  the 
committee.  He  showed  a  sounder  wisdom  in 
his  criticism  of  Morris'  report  on  the  national 
finances.  That  gentleman,  by  ingenious  figur- 
ing, had  devised  a  money  unit  which  was  a 
perfectly  accurate  common  measure  between 
the  currencies  of  all  the  States.  This  was  the 
T?W  part  of  a  dollar.  Jefferson  justly  found 
fault  with  a  system  which  would  make  all  the 
little  computations  of  daily  life  ridiculously 
vast  and  complex.  For  example,  he  said,  the 


IN  CONGRESS  AGAIN.  75 

price  of  a  loaf  of  bread,  fa  of  a  dollar,  would 
be  72  units  ;  of  a  pound  of  butter,  ^  of  a  dol- 
lar, 288  units;  of  a  horse,  worth  180,  115,200 
units;  while  a  national  debt  of  880,000,000 
would  be  115,200,000,000  units.  To  escape  such 
palpable  folly  he  suggested  the  dollar  as  the 
unit. 

Jefferson  further  had  the  pleasure  of  tender- 
ing to  Congress  Virginia's  deed,  ceding  her  vast 
northwestern  territory  to  be  held  as  the  com- 
mon property  of  all  the  States.  Directly  after- 
ward he  was  made  one  of  the  committee  charged 
to  prepare  a  plan  for  the  government  of  this 
region.  The  report  was  doubtless  composed  by 
him,  since  the  draft  in  the  State  Department  is 
in  his  handwriting.  It  contains  the  substance 
of  the  famous  Ordinance  of  the  Northwestern 
Territory.  Its  most  honorable  provision  is, 
"  that  after  the  year  1800  of  the  Christian  era, 
there  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary 
servitude  in  any  of  the  said  States,  otherwise 
than  in  punishment  of  crimes,"  etc.  Yet  be- 
side this  humane  and  noble  piece  of  statesman- 
ship we  have  a  glimpse  of  that  absurd  element 
in  Jefferson's  mind  which  his  admirers  sought 
to  excuse  by  calling  him  a  "philosopher."  The 
matter  is  small  to  be  sure,  but  suggestive.  He 
proposed  as  names  for  the  several  subdivisions 
of  this  territory  :  Sylvania,  Michigauia,  Cher- 


76  THOMAS  JEFFERSON'. 

ronesus,  Assenisippia,  Mesopotamia,  Illinoia, 
Saratoga,  Washington,  Polypotamia,  and  Peli- 
sipia.  Fortunately  these  wondrous  classic  titles 
have  not  afflicted  the  children  of  our  common 
schools.  But  much  less  happily  the  clause  pro- 
hibiting slavery  was  lost,  only  six  of  the  North- 
eastern and  Middle  States  voting  for  it. 

Such  were  the  last  legislative  undertakings 
of  Mr.  Jefferson.  On  May  7,  1784,  he  left 
Congress. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MINISTER   TO  FRANCE. 

SIMULTANEOUSLY  with  his  retirement  from 
Congress  Jefferson  was  for  the  fourth  time  ap- 
pointed to  a  foreign  mission.  His  errand  was 
to  aid  Dr.  Franklin  and  John  Adams  in  nego- 
tiating treaties  of  commerce.  He  sailed  from 
Boston  July  5,  1784,  and  arrived  in  Portsmouth 
July  30.  He  proceeded  at  once  to  Paris,  and 
soon  established  himself  there  in  a  handsome 
house,  which  he  afterward  exchanged  for  one  of 
considerable  magnificence,  and  in  all  respects 
he  made  arrangements  for  living  in  very  good 
style.  His  salary  was  nine  thousand  dollars  a 
year,  and  with  all  the  aid  he  could  get  from 
his  private  fortune  he  was  hard  pushed  to  meet 
his  expenses.  His  daughter  Martha  he  placed 
at  the  most  fashionable  and  exclusive  convent- 
school  in  the  country. 

He  soon  found  that  he  could  do  little  for  the 
United  States  beyond  representing  them  credit- 
ably and  serving  as  a  respectable  sample  of  the 
new  trans- Atlantic  people.  Nor  were  his  duties 
much  changed  when,  in  the  following  spring, 


78  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  trio  of  diplomatists  was  broken  up  by  the 
departure  of  Franklin  for  home  and  of  John 
Adams  for  England,  and  by  his  own  appoint- 
ment as  resident  minister  to  France.  The  un- 
pleasant truth  was  that  the  ancient  monarchies 
of  Europe  knew  little  and  cared  less  for  the 
parvenu  republics  of  a  distant  continent,  and 
were  indifferent  concerning  commercial  treaties 
with  a  people  whose  commerce  was  an  unknown 
and  unvalued  quantity.  "  Lady  Rockminster 
has  took  us  up,"  said  the  Begum  Clavering  to 
Pendennis  ;  and  very  much  in  the  same  way 
France  had  taken  up  the  North  American 
States.  She  vouched  for  their  respectability, 
treated  them  publicly  with  pointed  courtesy, 
and  affably  extended  to  their  representatives 
the  hospitalities  of  her  court  for  holding  diplo- 
matic intercourse  with  other  powers.  But  when 
these  other  powers,  though  civil  enough,  were 
wholly  uninterested,  France  could  not  further 
help  her  protege's.  Indeed,  she  herself  dis- 
appointed expectation  when  it  came  to  actual 
business.  Jefferson,  who  had  decided  notions 
about  the  advantages  of  free  trade,  was  untiring 
in  his  efforts  to  mitigate  the  severity  of  the 
French  regulations,  and  his  diplomatic  corre- 
spondence with  Vergennes  and  Montmorin 
fairly  reeks  with  the  flavors  of  whale  oils,  salt- 
fish,  and  tobacco.  Yet  he  was  able  to  accom- 
plish scarcely  anything. 


MINISTER  TO  FRANCE.  79 

He  had  also  to  encounter  the  usual  humili- 
ations which  beset  all  American  envoys  for 
many  years  by  reason  of  the  financial  embar- 
rassments of  the  States.  He  lived  in  a  hive  of 
creditors  of  his  nation,  who  seemed  resolved,  if 
they  could  not  extort  from  him  payment  of 
their  demands,  at  least  to  have  their  money's 
worth  in  tormenting  him.  He  was  further 
much  irritated  at  being  compelled  to  aid  in 
arranging,  on  behalf  of  his  countrymen,  that 
disgraceful  tribute  which  powerful  civilized  na- 
tions were  wont  to  pay  to  the  corsair  states  of 
Northern  Africa.  He  strenuously  urged  that 
war  would  be  more  effectual,  more  honorable, 
and  in  the  end  not  more  costly,  and  he  proposed 
to  form  a  league  of  commercial  nations  to  sus- 
tain a  combined  naval  armament  sufficient  to 
overawe  those  pirates  in  their  own  waters.  But 
his  spirited  and  sensible  efforts  did  not  meet 
with  the  success  which  they  deserved. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1786  another  unpleas- 
ant task  awaited  him.  He  was  obliged  to  spend 
a  few  weeks  in  London  in  the  hope  of  aiding 
Mr.  Adams  in  sundry  commercial  negotiations 
there  pending.  He  was  presented,  he  says, 
"  as  usual,  to  the  King  and  Queen  at  their 
levees,  and  it  was  impossible  for  anything  to 
be  more  ungracious  than  their  notice  of  Mr. 
Adams  and  myself."  Also  the  Marquis  of  Caer- 


80  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

marthen,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  was  so 
vague  and  evasive  as  to  confirm  Mr.  Jefferson 
in  his  belief  of  the  English  "  aversion  to  have 
anything  to  do  with  us."  Naturally  he  achieved 
nothing  and  went  away  in  no  pleasant  frame  of 
mind,  carrying  personal  reminiscences  chiefly 
of  coldness  and  insolence.  His  contempt  and 
hatred  towards  England,  much  intensified  by 
this  trip,  and  his  belief  in  the  bitter  hostility  of 
that  country  towards  the  States,  hereafter  find 
frequent  and  vigorous  expression  in  his  corre- 
spondence. 

"  That  nation  hate  us,"  he  wrote,  "  their  ministers 
hate  us,  and  their  King  more  than  all  other  men.  .  .  . 
Our  overtures  of  commercial  arrangements  have  been 
treated  with  derision.  ...  I  think  their  hostility  to- 
wards us  is  much  more  deeply  rooted  at  present  than 
during  the  war." 

"  In  spite  of  treaties,  England  is  still  our  enemy. 
Her  hatred  is  deep-rooted  and  cordial,  and  nothing  is 
wanting  with  her  but  the  power  to  wipe  us  and  the 
land  we  live  in  out  of  existence." 

The  English  "do  not  conceive  that  any  circum- 
stance will  arise  which  shall  render  it  expedient  for 
them  to  have  any  political  connection  with  us.  They 
think  we  shall  be  glad  of  their  commerce  on  their 
own  terms.  There  is  no  party  in  our  favor  here, 
either  in  power  or  out  of  power.  Even  the  opposi- 
tion concur  with  the  ministry  and  the  nation  in  this." 

"  I  think  the  King,  ministers,  and  nation  are  more 


MINISTER  TO  FRANCE.  81 

bitterly  hostile  to  us  at  present  than  at  any  period  of 
the  late  war." 

"The  spirit  of  hostility  to  us  has  always  existed 
in  the  mind  of  the  King,  but  it  has  now  extended  it- 
self through  the  whole  mass  of  the  people  and  the 
majority  in  the  public  councils." 

"  I  had  never  concealed  .  .  .  that  I  considered 
the  British  as  our  natural  enemies  and  as  the  only 
nation  on  earth  who  wished  us  ill  from  the  bottom  of 
their  souls.  And  I  am  satisfied  that,  were  our  con- 
tinent to  be  swallowed  up  by  the  ocean.  Great  Britain 
would  be  in  a  bonfire  from  one  side  to  the  other." 

So  excessive  was  his  distrust  that  he  even 
"  thought  the  English  capable  of  administering 
aid  to  the  Algerines." 

He  was  further  profoundly  incensed  at  the 
bad  character  which  persistent  abuse  by  the 
English  press  was  fastening  upon  his  country 
among  Europeans.  "  There  was,"  he  says,  "  an 
enthusiasm  towards  us  all  over  Europe  at  the 
moment  of  the  peace.  The  torrent  of  lies  pub- 
lished unremittingly  in  every  day's  London 
papers  first  made  an  impression  and  produced 
a  coolness.  The  republication  of  these  lies  in 
most  of  the  papers  of  Europe  .  .  .  carried  them 
home  to  the  belief  of  every  mind."  The  wretch- 
ed credit  of  the  States  abroad  is,  he  says, 
"  partly  owing  to  their  real  deficiencies,  and 
partly  to  the  lies  propagated  by  the  London 
s 


82  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

papers,  which  are  probably  paid  for  by  the 
minister  to  reconcile  the  people  to  the  loss  of 
us.  No  paper,  therefore,  comes  out  without  a 
dose  of  paragraphs  -against  America." 

This  state  of  popular  feeling  in  England 
filled  Jefferson  with  forebodings  for  the  future. 
"In  a  country  where  the  voice  of  the  people 
influences  so  much  the  measures  of  administra- 
tion, and  where  it  coincides  with  the  private 
temper  of  the  King,  there  is  no  pronouncing  on 
future  events."  UA  like  disposition  [of  hostility] 
on  our  part  has  been  rising  for  some  time.  .  .  . 
Our  countrymen  are  eager  in  their  passions  and 
enterprises  and  not  disposed  to  calculate  their 
interests  against  these."  Reflecting  that  the 
animosities  "  which  seize  the  whole  body  of  a 
people,  and  of  a  people  too  who  dictate  their 
own  measures,  produce  calamities  of  long  dura- 
tion," he  said  that  he  should  "not  wonder  to 
see  the  scenes  of  ancient  Rome  and  Carthage 
renewed  in  our  days."  But  he  consoled  himself 
with  the  reflection  that  "  we  are  young  and  can 
survive  them  ;  but  their  rotten  machine  must 
crush  under  the  trial." 

Jefferson  was  preeminently  a  man  of  peace ; 
he  instinctively  loved  it,  and  he  knew  that  his 
own  abilities  fitted  him  only  for  peaceful  scenes. 
About  the  time  of  which  we  are  writing  he  re- 
marked that  "  the  most  successful  war  seldom 


MINISTER   TO  FRANCE.  83 

pays  for  its  losses,"  and  throughout  life  he 
hated  everything  which  did  not  pay.  He  there- 
fore deprecated  a  war  even  with  England  ;  yet 
he  abominated  her  with  that  peculiar  bitterness 
which  is  seldom  cherished  by  more  combative 
natures,  but  has  a  strange  way  of  lurking  in 
the  obscure  depths  of  pacific  characters.  Al- 
lowing for  a  little  excess  in  this  feeling,  he  was 
in  the  main  perfectly  right.  It  is  necessary  to 
dip  very  little  beneath  the  tranquil  surface  of 
history  to  find  a  vast  reservoir  of  evidence  in 
corroboration  of  his  views  and  justification  of 
his  feelings.  He  read  English  sentiments  and 
purposes  with  perfect  accuracy.  But  further, 
besides  their  enmity  he  plainly  saw  that  per- 
verse and  obstinate  dulness  which  was  so  long 
a  marked  trait  in  their  intercourse  with  this 
country.  With  bitter  justice  he  said,  "our 
enemies  (for  such  they  are  in  fact)  have  for 
twelve  years  past  followed  but  one  uniform 
rule,  that  of  doing  exactly  the  contrary  of  what 
reason  points  out.  Having  early  during  our 
contest  observed  this  in  the  British  conduct,  I 
governed  myself  by  it  in  all  prognostications  of 
their  measures ;  and  I  can  say  with  truth  it 
never  failed  me  but  in  the  circumstance  of  their 
making  peace  with  us."  He  further  ventured 
to  say  that  the  English  "  require  to  be  kicked 
into  common  good  manners."  Yet  he  retained 


84  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

sufficient  fairness  to  admit  the  excellence  of  the 
English  system  of  government,  reserving  his 
condemnation  chiefly  for  the  behavior  of  the 
ministry  and  prominent  men. 

From  this  futile  and  exasperating  English 
trip  Jefferson  returned  to  a  thoroughly  congen- 
ial society.  If,  as  these  Parisian  years  glided 
pleasantly  by,  they  seemed  fraught  with  little 
matter  of  importance  for  the  States,  and  to  be 
chiefly  instrumental  in  promoting  Jefferson's 
personal  gratification,  it  was  only  because  their 
true  bearing  was  not  yet  apparent.  It  was 
seed-time,  and  the  harvest  was  not  to  ripen 
until  Jefferson  should  become  the  leader  of  a 
powerful  party  in  the  United  States.  Then  Eng- 
lish insolence  and  French  courtesy  began  sever- 
ally to  bear  their  appropriate  fruits,  and  the 
gathering  was  a  matter  of  some  consequence  to 
all  concerned. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  stay  in  France  extended 
through  five  years.  When  he  arrived,  the  mon- 
archy seemed  firmly  established  as  ever ;  before 
he  left,  the  Bastille  had  been  destroyed,  blood 
had  been  freely  spilled  in  the  streets,  mobs  had 
overawed  the  King  and  slain  cabinet  ministers. 
No  Frenchman  watched  events  with  more  pro- 
found interest  than  did  Jefferson,  and  none  had 
better  opportunities  than  he  enjoyed  for  observ- 
ing the  gradual  advance  of  revolutionary  feel- 


MINISTER  TO  FRANCE.  85 

ing.  His  own  predilections  and  his  natural  in- 
timacy with  Lafayette  brought  him  from  the 
outset  into  the  society  of  the  liberal  or  patriotic 
party.  These  men,  moderate  and  reasonable 
reformers  and  not  at  all  identical  with  the  vio- 
lent revolutionists  of  later  stages,  found  in  him 
a  kindred  spirit,  long  accustomed  to  think  the 
thoughts  which  they  were  just  beginning  to 
think,  and  to  hold  the  beliefs  which  they  were 
now  acquiring.  They  made  of  him  at  once  an 
instructor,  counsellor,  and  sympathizing  friend. 
They  recognized  him  as  one  of  themselves,  a 
speculative  thinker  concerning  the  rights  of 
mankind,  a  preacher  of  extreme  doctrines  of 
political  freedom,  a  deviser  of  theories  of  gov- 
ernment, a  propounder  of  vague  but  imposing 
generalizations,  a  condemner  of  the  fetters  of 
practicability,  in  a  word,  in  the  slang  of  that 
day,  a  "  philosopher ;  "  and  they  liked  him  ac- 
cordingly. Upon  his  own  part,  his  interest  in 
the  reformation  of  their  odious  royal  despotism 
could  hardly  have  been  greater,  had  he  himself 
been  a  Frenchman.  He  went  daily  to  Versailles 
to  attend  the  debates  of  the  National  Assembly. 
Lafayette  and  others  sought  his  suggestions. 
The  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux,  as  head  of  a 
committee  of  the  National  Assembly,  charged 
to  draft  the  projet  of  a  constitution,  actually 
invited  him  "  to  attend  and  assist  at  their  delib- 


86  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

erations."  This  he  wisely  declined  to  do.  But 
later,  in  private  conference  with  one  or  two 
personal  friends,  he  proposed  an  important  step, 
—  that  "the  King,  in  a  stance  royale,  should 
come  forward  with  a  cnarter  of  rights  in  his 
hand,  to  be  signed  by  himself  and  by  every 
member  "  of  the  Assembly  ;  and  he  actually 
sketched  the  chief  heads  of  such  a  "  charter." 

If  these  acts  seem  an  interference  of  ques- 
tionable propriety,  yet  upon  the  whole  it  must 
be  admitted  that  he  behaved  with  excellent 
discretion  and  self-control,  though  the  tempta- 
tion to  mingle  in  affairs  was  rendered  excep- 
tionally great  by  his  real  interest  in  them,  by 
the  abnormal  state  of  political  matters,  by  his 
friendship  with  Lafayette  and  others,  and  by 
the  deference  which  was  shown  to  him  person- 
ally, indicative  of  the  influence  which  he  might 
exert.  Only  once  did  he  appear  in  danger  of 
being  seriously  compromised,  and  then  it  was 
through  the  blunder  of  another.  Lafayette, 
without  previously  consulting  him,  arranged 
that  six  or  eight  discordant  chiefs  of  different 
sections  of  the  liberal  party  in  the  Assembly 
should  dine  at  Jefferson's  house,  in  the  hope 
that  they  might  reach  an  agreement.  Jefferson 
was  much  annoyed  at  this  "  inadvertence  "  on 
the  part  of  his  friend,  and  waited  on  Count 
Montmorin  the  next  morning  with  an  explana- 
tion. The  Count  replied  that 


MINISTER  TO  FRANCE.  87 

"he  already  knew  everything  which  had  passed, 
that  so  far  from  taking  umbrage  at  the  use  made  of 
my  house  on  that  occasion  he  earnestly  wished  I 
would  habitually  assist  at  such  conferences,  being 
sure  I  should  be  useful  in  moderating  the  warmer 
spirits  and  promoting  a  wholesome  and  practicable 
reformation  only.  I  told  him  I  knew  too  well  the 
duties  I  owed  to  the  King,  to  the  nation,  and  to  my 
own  country,  to  take  any  part  in  councils  concerning 
their  internal  government,  and  that  I  should  perse- 
vere with  care  in  the  character  of  a  neutral  and 
passive  spectator,  with  wishes  only  and  very  sincere 
ones;  that  those  measures  might  prevail  which  would 
be  for  the  greatest  good  of  the  nation." 

It  has  been  the  fashion  to  say  that  the  feel- 
ings and  ideas  gathered  by  Jefferson  in  France 
constituted  the  predominant  influence  through- 
out his  subsequent  political  career.  In  this 
there  is  much  exaggeration,  and  towards  him 
much  injustice.  His  character  was  more  inde- 
pendent. Moreover,  he  was  a  mature  man  when 
he  went  abroad,  and  had  been  busied  from  early 
youth,  alike  in  the  way  of  theory  and  practice, 
with  the  political  and  social  problems  of  govern- 
ment. The  originating  disposition  and  radical 
temper  of  his  mind  had  appeared  from  the  out- 
set, and  were  only  confirmed,  not  created,  by  his 
foreign  experience.  Neither  was  his  affection 
for  France,  nor  his  antipathy  to  England,  then 


88  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

first  implanted.  Both  sentiments  were  strong 
before  he  crossed  the  Atlantic  ;  they  were  only 
encouraged  by  the  pleasures  of  his  long  resi- 
dence in  the  one  country,  and  the  convictions 
borne  in  upon  him  during  his  brief  visit  to  the 
other.  His  character  would  be  ill  understood 
if  it  were  supposed  that  his  subsequent  politi- 
cal career  was  the  exotic  growth  of  French 
seeds,  instead  of  being  developed  in  ordinary 
course  from  the  native  root.  He  would  always 
have  been  a  radical,  an  extreme  democrat,  a 
hater  of  England,  a  lover  of  France,  a  sympa- 
thizer with  the  French  revolutionists,  though 
he  had  never  sailed  out  of  sight  of  American 
shores.  The  only  effect  of  his  European  life 
was  to  corroborate  preexisting  opinions,  and 
somewhat  to  intensify  sentiments  already  en- 
tertained. Perhaps  these  were  naturally  so 
strong  that  a  counteracting  influence  would 
have  been  more  wholesome ;  and  this  might 
have  been  experienced  had  he  remained  to  wit- 
ness the  Reign  of  Terror  and  the  ascendency 
of  Robespierre.  This,  however,  was  not  to  be. 
In  September,  1789,  he  sailed  for  home  from 
Havre,  upon  what  he  supposed  to  be  a  short 
leave  of  absence  granted  at  his  urgent  request. 
But  events,  as  will  be  seen,  rendered  his  stay 
at  home  permanent. 

Jefferson  ought  to  have  been  a  happy  man 


MINISTER  TO  FRANCE.  89 

when  he  set  sail  on  this  return  trip.  Never  did 
an  involuntary  exile  glorify,  in  imagination,  his 
lost  home  as  Jefferson  had  been  glorifying  the 
States  for  five  years  past.  All  the  charms  of 
Paris  were  to  him  as  nothing  in  comparison 
with  the  merits  of  his  dear  native  land.  "  Lon- 
don," he  said,  u  though  handsomer  than  Paris, 
is  not  so  handsome  as  Philadelphia  !  "  In  the 
way  of  education,  only  vice  and  modern  lan- 
guages were  better  taught  in  Europe  than  at 
home ;  instruction  was  just  as  good  at  William 
and  Mary  College  as  at  the  most  famous  seats 
of  learning  abroad!  He  begged  Monroe  to 
come  to  France,  because  "  it  will  make  you 
adore  your  own  country,  its  soil,  its  climate, 
its  equality,  liberty,  laws,  people,  and  manners." 
He  predicted  that  many  Europeans  would  settle 
in  America,  but  "no  man  now  living  will  ever 
see  an  instance  of  an  American  removing  to 
settle  in  Europe  and  continuing  there."  The 
virtues  of  his  fellow-citizens  he  attributes  to  the 
fact  that  they  have  "  been  separated  from  their 
parent  stock  and  kept  from  contamination, 
either  from  them  or  the  other  people  of  the  old 
world,  by  the  intervention  of  so  wide  an  ocean.'* 
"  With  all  the  defects  of  our  Constitution,  .  .  . 
the  comparison  of  our  governments  with  those 
of  Europe  is  like  a  comparison  of  heaven  and 
hell.  England,  like  the  earth,  may  be  allowed 
to  take  the  intermediate  station." 


90  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

To  the  gaze  of  such  a  patriot  everything 
which  took  place  in  his  o\vn  country  seamed 
admirable.  Even  Shays's  insurrection  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, which,  by  the  alarm  that  it  spread 
among  all  thinking  men,  contributed  largely  to 
the  adoption  of  the  new  Constitution,  seemed 
to  Jefferson  a  commendable  occurrence.  Un- 
deniably he  talked  some  very  bad  nonsense 
about  it. 

"  The  commotions  offer  nothing  threatening  ;  they 
are  a  proof  that  the  people  have  liberty  enough, 
and  I  could  riot  wish  them  less  than  they  have.  If 
the  happiness  of  the  mass  of  the  people  can  be 
secured  at  the  expense  of  a  little  tempest,  now  and 
then,  or  even  of  a  little  blood,  it  will  be  a  precious 
purchase."  "To  punish  these  errors  too  severely 
would  he  to  suppress  the  only  safeguard  of  the  pub- 
lic liberty."  "  A  little  rebellion  now  and  then  is  a 
good  thing,  .  .  .  an  observation  of  this  truth  should 
render  honest  republican  governors  so  mild  in  their 
punishment  of  rebellions  as  not  to  discourage  them  too 
much.  It  is  a  medicine  necessary  for  the  sound 
health  of  government."  "  Thus  I  calculate,  —  an  in- 
surrection in  one  of  thirteen  States  in  the  course  of 
eleven  years  that  they  have  subsisted,  amounts  to  one 
in  any  particular  State  in  one  hundred  and  forty- 
three  years,  say  a  century  and  a  half.  This  would 
not  be  near  as  many  as  have  happened  in  every  other 
government  that  has  ever  existed.  So  that  we  shall 
have  the  difference  between  a  light  and  a  heavy  gov- 


MINISTER  TO  FRANCE.  91 

ernment  as  clear  gain."  "  Can  history  produce  an 
instance  of  rebellion  so  honorably  conducted  ?  .  .  . 
God  forbid  we  should  ever  be  twenty  years  without 
such  a  rebellion.  .  .  .  What  signify  a  few  lives  lost 
in  a  century  or  two  ?  The  tree  of  liberty  must  be 
refreshed  from  time  to  time  with  the  blood  of  patriots 
and  tyrants.  It  is  its  natural  manure." 

It  shakes  one's  faith  in  mankind  to  find  a 
really  great  statesman  uttering  such  folly  !  It 
had  not  even  the  poor  excuse  of  being  caught 
from  the  French  revolutionists  ;  for  the  latest 
of  these  sentences  was  uttered  in  November, 
1787,  when  Jefferson  was  more  probably  en- 
gaged in  imparting  such  extravagant  notions 
to  the  moderate  French  reformers  than  in 
receiving  these  wild  ideas  from  them.  In  truth, 
Jefferson  was  recoiling  too  far  from  the  "  con- 
spiracy of  kings  and  nobles,"  and  was  cast  for 
a  time  into  the  ridiculous  position  of  advocat- 
ing a  u  no  government"  theory.  "  The  basis  of 
our  governments,"  he  said,  "being  the  opinion 
of  the  people,  the  very  first  object  should  be  to 
keep  that  right,"  —  a  sound  postulate  which 
he  makes  the  pedestal  for  a  preposterous  super- 
structure ;  for  he  adds,  "  were  it  left  to  me  to 
decide  whether  we  should  have  a  government 
without  newspapers,  or  newspapers  without  a 
government,  I  should  not  hesitate  a  moment  to 
prefer  the  latter," —  the  newspapers  of  the  latter 


92  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

half  of  the  eighteenth  century!  "I  am  con- 
vinced,'' he  says,  "  that  those  societies  (as  the 
Indians)  which  live  without  government  enjoy 
in  their  general  mass  an  infinitely  greater  de- 
gree of  happiness  than  those  who  live  under 
the  European  governments.  Among  the  former 
public  opinion  is  in  the  place  of  law,  and  re- 
straining morals  as  powerfully  as  laws  ever  did 
anywhere."  "  Societies  exist  under  three  forms ; 
...  1.  Without  government  as  among  our  In- 
dians. 2.  Under  governments  wherein  the  will 
of  every  one  has  a  just  influence.  ...  3.  Under 
governments  of  force.  .  .  .  It  is  a  problem  not 
clear  in  my  mind  that  the  first  condition  is  not 
the  best."  One  loses  patience  with  an  intelli- 
gent man  talking  such  stuff. 

Jefferson's  experience  abroad,  in  attempting 
to  form  commercial  treaties,  had  taught  him  the 
necessity  of  a  closer  union  of  the  States  for 
purposes  of  foreign  relationships  ;  but  when  the 
lesson  of  Shays's  insurrection  was  even  read 
backwards  by  him,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  he  was 
far  from  comprehending  the  domestic  necessity 
for  a  much  firmer  consolidation.  "  My  general 
plan,"  he  said,  "  would  be  to  make  the  States 
one  as  to  everything  connected  with  foreign 
nations,  and  several  as  to  everything  purely  do- 
mestic." Such  being  his  opinion,  it  was  inevit- 
able that  when  the  Constitution  of  the  United 


.MINISTER  TO  FRANCE.  93 

State  was  published,  lie  found  much  in  it  which 
seemed  to  him  very  unsound  and  objectionable. 
There  are  in  the  document,  he  said,  "  things 
which  stagger  all  my  dispositions  to  subscribe 
to  what  such  an  assembly  has  proposed,"  and 
his  earliest  criticisms  were  very  severe.  Further 
consideration,  however,  the  arguments  of  the 
Federalist,  and  correspondence  with  Madison 
and  Monroe,  gradually  induced  him  to  modify 
his  views.  By  May,  1788,  he  was  able  to  say : 
44 1  look  forward  to  the  general  adoption  of  the 
new  Constitution  with  anxiety,  as  necessary 
for  us  under  our  present  circumstances."  If 
in  many  particulars  he  was  still  imperfectly 
pleased,  he  was  only  of  the  like  sentiment  with 
most  of  the  zealous  advocates  of  adoption. 
Probably  every  prominent  man  among  the  Fed- 
eralists could,  in  his  own  opinion,  have  sug- 
gested improvements.  Jefferson  finally  took 
the  national  charter  as  its  other  supporters  did, 
"  contented  with  the  ground  which  it  will  gain 
for  us,  and  hoping  that  a  favorable  moment  will 
come  for  correcting  what  is  amiss  in  it."  His 
earlier  wish  was  that  nine  States  would  adopt 
it,  "  in  order  to  insure  what  was  good  in  it,  and 
that  the  others  might,  by  holding  off,  produce 
the  necessary  amendments."  But  later  he  de- 
clared the  plan  of  Massachusetts  to  be  "  far 
preferable,"  and  expressed  the  hope  that  it 


94  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

would  "  be  followed  by  those  who  are  yet  to  de- 
cide." Finally  on  December  4,  1788,  he  writes, 
"I  have  seen  with  infinite  pleasure  our  new 
Constitution  accepted  by  eleven  States,  not  re- 
jected by  the  twelfth  ;  and  that  the  thirteenth 
happens  to  be  a  State  of  the  least  importance." 
The  preceding  extracts,  which  might  be 
multiplied  by  many  more  of  identical  tenor, 
abundantly  show  Jefferson's  real  sentiments 
concerning  the  Constitution,  and  refute  the  un- 
fair charge  afterward  brought  against  him  by 
his  enemies,  that  he  was  opposed  to  it.  His 
own  characteristic  statement  was,  "  I  am  not  a 
Federalist,  because  I  never  submitted  the  whole 
system  of  my  opinions  to  the  creed  of  any 
party  of  men  whatever,  in  religion,  in  philoso- 
phy, in  politics,  or  in  anything  else  where  I  was 
capable  of  thinking  for  myself.  Such  an  addic- 
tion is  the  last  degradation  of  a  free  and  moral 
agent.  If  I  could  not  go  to  heaven  but  with  a 
party,  I  would  not  go  there  at  all.  Therefore  I 
am  not  of  the  party  of  the  Federalists.  But  I  am 
much  farther  from  that  of  the  anti-Federalists. 
I  approved,  from  the  first  moment,  of  the  great 
mass  of  what  is  in  the  new  Constitution."  He 
then  continues  at  great  length  to  show  how  his 
objections  gradually  gave  way  before  argument, 
until  a  confession  of  faith,  too  rigid  to  have 
been  repeated  by  him,  could  have  been  repeated 


MINISTER  TO  FRANCE.  95 

by  very  few  individuals  in  the  States.  It  is 
probable  that  the  Constitution  was  nearer  to  his 
ideal  upon  the  one  side  than  it  was  to  Hamil- 
ton's ideal  upon  the  other.  The  only  serious 
objections,  which  he  retained  to  the  end,  were 
the  absence  of  a  bill  of  rights  and  the  reeligi- 
bility  of  the  President.  The  former  real  defect 
was  promptly  and  wisely  cured ;  the  latter  has 
been  practically  controlled  by  a  wise  custom 
which  he  himself  helped  to  inaugurate. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

SECEETAEY  OF    STATE.  —  DOMESTIC  AFFAIKS. 

ON  October  23,  1789,  Mr.  Jefferson  sailed 
from  Cowes,  and  on  December  23  he  was  wel- 
comed by  his  slaves  at  Monticello.  At  his  de- 
parture he  had  supposed  that  he  was  returning 
home  for  a  visit  of  a  few  months  only,  and  that 
he  should  speedily  go  back  to  watch  the  prog- 
ress of  the  French  Revolution.  He  was  now 
so  much  more  interested  in  this  movement  than 
in  any  other  matter,  that  he  was  by  no  means 
gratified  to  find  awaiting  him,  upon  his  arrival, 
an  invitation  from  President  Washington  to 
fill  the  place  of  secretary  of  state.  He  replied 
that  he  did  not  prefer  the  change,  but  that  he 
would  be  governed  by  the  President's  wishes. 
Washington  thereupon  wrote  again  in  very 
urgent  fashion,  and  Madison  made  a  visit  to 
Monticello  for  the  express  purpose  of  exerting 
his  personal  influence.  Beneath  such  pressure 
Jefferson  reluctantly  abandoned  his  hope  of  re- 
maining abroad,  and  accepted  the  secretaryship, 
only  stipulating  for  a  few  weeks  for  setting 
in  order  his  private  affairs.  It  was  not  until 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  97 

March  21,  1790,  that  he  arrived  in  New  York 
and  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office. 

In  those  days  the  cabinet  consisted  of  only 
four  persons.  John  Jay  had  been  acting  tem- 
porarily as  secretary  of  state,  but  with  the  un- 
derstanding that  he  should  be  made  chief  jus- 
tice so  soon  as  a  permanent  secretary  could  be 
appointed ;  Hamilton  had  been  made  secretary 
of  the  treasury  immediately  after  Washing- 
ton's inauguration  ;  about  the  same  time  Knox 
had  been  appointed  secretary  of  war,  and  later 
Edmund  Randolph  had  been  made  attorney- 
general.  The  great  brunt  of  the  labor  in  the 
organization  of  public  affairs  had  fallen  and 
still  rested  upon  Hamilton,  who  had  encoun- 
tered the  vast  and  complex  task  with  mag- 
nificent spirit  and  ability.  By  the  time  that 
Jefferson  came  to  share  in  the  business  of  gov- 
ernment, all  questions  concerning  the  foreign 
debt  and  the  domestic  national  debt  had  been 
disposed  of  by  Congress  in  accordance  with 
Hamilton's  recommendations.  But  there  still 
remained,  as  a  bone  of  fierce  contention,  the 
secretary's  scheme  for  the  assumption  by  the 
United  States  of  the  war  debts  of  the  individ- 
ual States ;  and  concerning  this  the  opposing 
parties  had  been  wrought  up  to  a  pitch  of  ex- 
ceeding bitterness  and  excitement.  In  com- 
mittee of  the  whole  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
7 


98  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

sentatives  the  assumption  had  been  carried  by 
thirty-one  yeas  to  twenty-one  nays  ;  but  when 
the  question  came  to  be  taken  in  the  House 
proper  the  representatives  from  North  Carolina 
had  arrived,  and  aided  in  turning  the  scale,  so 
that  on  March  29  the  measure  was  voted  down. 
From  the  condition  of  feeling  it  was  evident 
that  a  serious  crisis  already  menaced  the  young 
nation.  Congress  met  daily  and  adjourned 
without  transacting  any  business ;  the  hostile 
factions  could  not  work  together  upon  any  sub- 
ject, and,  indeed,  nobody  cared  to  think  or  talk 
of  anything  save  assumption.  Threats  of  dis- 
union were  heard  on  all  sides.  Hamilton  con- 
templated the  emergency  with  profound  anxi- 
ety, for  the  Treasury  Department  carried  within 
itself  the  fate  of  the  new  government ;  and  upon 
his  financiering  really  depended  the  existence 
of  a  people.  The  momentous  struggle  called 
forth  all  the  resources  of  his  ingenious  and  fer- 
tile mind.  While  he  kept  up  a  steady  fight  all 
along  the  front,  he  also  set  himself  to  devise  a 
flank  movement,  and  in  this  manoeuvre  he  re- 
solved to  make  use  of  Mr.  Jefferson. 

It  happened  opportunely  that  the  selection 
of  a  site  for  the  national  capital  had  given  rise 
to  an  eager  sectional  division  in  Congress.  The 
Southern  States  wanted  it  on  the  Potomac;  the 
Middle  and  Eastern  States  wished  it  to  be 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  99 

farther  north.  The  northern  party  had  pre- 
vailed by  a  narrow  majority.  Now  it  was  for- 
tunately the  case  that  the  parties  in  the  assump- 
tion debate  had  divided  by  the  like  sectional 
lines;  the  Middle  and  Eastern  States  were  in 
favor  of  assumption  ;  the  Southern  States  were 
opposed  to  it ;  and  in  this  matter  the  South 
had  prevailed,  also  by  a  slender  majority.  The 
opportunity  for  a  bargain  was  obvious ;  the 
temptation  to  it  was  irresistible  ;  the  justifica- 
tion was  sufficiently  satisfactory.  Hamilton  ac- 
cordingly resolved  to  buy  two  or  three  votes 
for  his  assumption  scheme  at  the  price  of  the 
required  number  of  votes  for  the  Potomac  site. 
In  this  bit  of  political  commerce  he  selected  Jef- 
ferson as  an  efficient  partner.  So  one  day,  meet- 
ing Jefferson  in  the  street,  Hamilton  walked 
•with  him  and  discussed  the  matter.  He  de- 
picted the  national  jeopardy  in  woful  colors, 
and  movingly  besought  Jefferson  to  use  his  in- 
fluence with  some  of  his  friends  and  to  save  the 
Union.  Jefferson  replied  that  he  was  "  really 
a  stranger  to  the  whole  subject,"  but  that  the 
preservation  of  the  country  touched  him  nearly, 
and  he  begged  Hamilton  to  dine  with  him  the 
next  day,  to  meet  one  or  two  more  whom  he 
would  invite,  in  the  hope  that  together  they 
might  devise  some  acceptable  "  compromise." 
The  dinner  came  off,  Jefferson  afterward  wrote 


100  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

that  he  himself  "could  take  no  part  in  [the 
discussion]  but  an  exhortatory  one,"  because 
he  was  a  "  stranger  to  the  circumstances  which 
should  govern  it."  But  the  bargain  was  then 
and  there  struck  ;  and  at  that  dinner-table  as- 
sumption was  bought  for  a  capital  on  the  Poto- 
mac. The  terms  of  the  agreement  were  punct- 
ually fulfilled.  The  requisite  number  of  votes 
were  delivered,  so  to  speak,  on  both  sides,  and 
Hamilton's  financial  policy  prevailed  without 
mutilation. 

Soon,  however,  Jefferson  found  himself  deeply 
repenting  his  share  in  this  transaction.  He  be- 
gan to  doubt  whether  the  measure  was  really 
wise  and  right,  and  he  plainly  saw  that  from  a 
personal  and  selfish  point  of  view  he  had  blun- 
dered seriously.  For  he  had  greatly  aided  the 
prestige  and  influence  of  one  who  soon  became 
his  most  formidable  political  opponent,  and  he 
had  been  largely  efficient  in  achieving  the  suc- 
cess of  a  measure  which  his  party  was  forth- 
with to  single  out  for  especial  denunciation. 
When,  therefore,  he  was  pushed  ere  long  to 
find  explanations  of  this  compromising  fellow- 
ship with  Hamilton,  he  behaved  like  the  fox 
who  gnaws  off  his  own  leg  to  escape  from  the 
trap  ;  he  sacrificed,  by  denial,  one  of  the  most 
marked  of  his  mental  traits,  his  political  astute- 
ness; he  said  that  he  had  been  tricked  by  Ham- 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  101 

ilton,  and  made  a  dupe  and  tool  in  a  department 
of  business  with  which  he  was  unfamiliar,  that 
he  had  been  "most  ignorantly  and  innocently 
made  to  hold  the  candle  "  for  the  wicked  game 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Such  a  de- 
fence seemed  a  bad  advertisement  of  his  fitness 
for  political  leadership,  and  was  otherwise  so 
poor  and  incredible  that  it  would  not  have  been 
resorted  to,  could  any  other  have  been  devised. 
The  bargain  which  had  been  made  was  per- 
fectly plain  and  simple,  at  least  in  respect  of 
political  morality,  and  so  far  as  this  went  could 
be  explained  and  comprehended  in  five  min- 
utes. As  for  the  soundness  of  the  policy  of  as- 
sumption, Jefferson  could  have  heard  little  else 
talked  about  since  his  arrival  at  New  York.  He 
knew  the  bitterness  of  the  contest  concerning 
it,  and  if  he  had  not  made  up  his  mind  about 
it,  he  was  rash  in  taking  sides  so  decisively. 
But  if  he  had  been  rash  he  was  not  therefore 
entitled  to  abuse  Hamilton  for  setting  forth 
and  promoting  his  own  views.1  The  truth  is 
not,  however,  buried  out  of  sight  beneath  his 
excuses  and  explanation  of  his  action.  This 
truth  is,  that  he  was  asked  and  that  he  con- 


1  As  evidence  that  Jefferson  understood  very  well  what  he 
was  about,  and  had  his  own  wishes  in  the  matter,  see  his  letter    * 
to  Mouroe  of  June  20,  1790,  and  letter  to  Gilmer  of  June  27, 
1790. 


102  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

sented  to  take  a  part  before  lie  comprehended 
or  even  suspected  the  powerful  formative  en- 
ergies which  ran  under  the  surface  of  Hamil- 
ton's financial  measures,  like  sinews  beneath 
the  skin.  He  was,  therefore,  willing  enough  to 
help  forward  a  measure  upon  which  seemed  to 
depend  the  continuance  of  the  Union,  and  of 
which  the  remoter  bearing  and  effects  lay  be- 
yond his  vision.  A  little  later  he  appreciated 
that  Hamilton  had  not  only  been  handling  the 
finances  with  singular  technical  skill,  but  had 
also  been  so  shaping  all  his  measures  that  they 
had  constituted  so  many  tonic  doses  adminis- 
tered to  the  national  government,  strengthen- 
ing it,  confirming  it  in  the  interests  of  an  influ- 
ential portion  of  the  community,  and  exercising 
a  powerful  centralizing  influence.  When  all 
this  dawned  upon  Jefferson's  understanding,  he 
was  filled  with  horror  and  indignation  at  the 
share  he  had  unwittingly  taken  in  promoting 
principles  of  government  which  he  abominated. 
Also  he  was  seriously  irritated  at  the  incon- 
venient light  in  which  he  had  thus  been  made 
to  appear  before  those  with  whom  he  sought 
political  fellowship  and  authority.  Then,  his 
eyes  being  at  last  opened,  anger  against  Ham- 
ilton induced  him  to  assert  that  Hamilton  had 
outwitted  him  by  taking  unfair  advantage  of 
his  inexperience. 


- 
SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  103 

Jefferson  was  no  financier.  The  shrewd  good 
sense  winch  he  had  displayed  in  managing  his 
own  business,  as  a  planter,  was  superseded  by 
an  uncontrollable  passion  for  theorizing,  when 
he  came  to  grapple  with  the  great  and  intri- 
cate problems  of  national  finances.  At  times 
he  wandered  into  the  wildest  and  most  absurd 
vagaries.  Thus,  only  a  few  months  before  he 
took  his  seat  in  the  cabinet,  he  had  been  much 
pleased  with  a  novel  idea  that  had  struck  him 
concerning  "•  a  question  of  such  consequences 
as  not  only  to  merit  decision,  but  place  also 
among  the  fundamental  principles  of  every  gov- 
ernment." It  is  with  some  astonishment  that 
the  patient  reader  follows  through  several  pages 
of  guileless  argument  the  development  of  this 
grand,  fundamental,  newly-discovered  truth,  and 
finally  learns  the  confounding  doctrine  that  no 
public  debt  can  rightfully  survive  the  genera- 
tion which  contracts  it !  The  daring  and  orig- 
inal logician  starts  with  the  "  self-evident " 
proposition  that  "  the  earth  belongs  in  usufruct 
to  the  living  ;  that  the  dead  have  neither  pow- 
ers nor  rights  over  it."  But,  he  says,  if  a  debt 
survives  the  generation  which  contracts  it,  then 
the  subsequent  generation  takes  "  the  earth " 
subject  to  a  burden  imposed  by  and  for  the 
dead.  This  must  needs  be  wrong,  since  it  is 
counter  to  a  "  self-evident  "  premise.  Now  as- 


104  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

suming  that  men  come  of  age  at  twenty-one, 
and  that  the  majority  of  those  who  are  alive  at 
twenty-one  will  live  thirty-four  years  more,  it 
follows  that  a  generation  may  contract  debts  to 
run  thirty-four  years  and  no  longer.  This  pe- 
riod he  afterward  reduced  to  nineteen  years ; 
for  "  a  generation  consisting  of  all  ages,  and 
which  legislates  by  all  its  members  above  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years,  cannot  contract  for  so 
long  a  time,  because  their  majority  will  be  dead 
much  sooner."  It  is  at  once  ludicrous,  pitiful, 
and  alarming  to  hear  such  rubbish  from  an  in- 
fluential leader  of  the  people.  After  listening 
to  it  one  is  not  surprised  to  hear  that  in  criti- 
cising the  work  of  one  of  the  greatest  financiers 
whom  the  world  has  ever  seen,  Jefferson  made 
but  a  sorry  show. 

Nevertheless,  being  profoundly  unconscious 
of  his  own  incapacity  in.  this  department  of 
knowledge,  Jefferson  did  not  refrain  from  free 
indulgence  in  such  dangerous  criticism.  He 
was  wont  to  say  that  Hamilton's  financial  sys- 
tem was  designed  to  serve  as  a  puzzle  for  ex- 
cluding popular  understanding  and  inquiry.  In 
1802  he  wrote  to  Gallatin  concerning  Hamil- 
ton :  — 

"  In  order  that  he  might  have  the  entire  govern- 
ment of  his  machine,  he  determined  so  to  complicate 
it  as  that  neither  the  President  nor  Congress  should 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  105 

be  able  to  understand  it  or  to  control  him.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  this,  not  only  beyond  their  reach, 
but  so  that  he  himself  could  not  unravel  it.  He  gave 
to  the  debt  in  the  first  instance,  in  funding  it,  the 
most  artificial  and  mysterious  form  he  could  devise. 
He  then  moulded  up  his  appropriations  of  a  number 
of  scraps  and  remnants,  many  of  which  were  nothing 
at  all,  and  applied  them  to  different  objects  in  rever- 
sion and  remainder,  until  the  whole  system  was  in- 
volved in  impenetrable  fog." 

He  actually  reiterated  this  declaration  so  late 
as  1818,  long  after  the  perfect  practical  success 
of  that  renowned  system  had  constituted  its 
unanswerable  vindication.  But  it  is  not  proba- 
ble that  he  was  disingenuous  in  his  abuse,  for 
certainly  Hamilton's  financiering  was  from  the 
beginning,  and  ever  remained,  a  "puzzle"  ut- 
terly insoluble  for  Mr.  Jefferson.  Nevertheless 
he  persisted  in  a  blind  hatred  and  denunciation, 
eloquent  enough  while  he  confined  himself  to 
generalities,  but,  so  often  as  he  turned  to  more 
specific  fault-finding,  manifesting  a  surprising 
ignorance  of  economic  principles  and  a  hopeless 
confusion  of  thought.  Yet  a  distinguished  feat- 
ure of  Hamilton's  system  was  its  grand,  plain 
simplicity,  not  only  in  its  broad  outlines,  but  in 
matters  of  detail  and  technique.  His  reports  to 
Congress  were  lucid  to  a  degree  which  makes 
them  comprehensible  to  a  woman  or  a  child. 


106  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

It  befell,  however,  very  fortunately  for  Jeffer- 
son, that  he  had  not  much  fighting  to  do  in  a 
field  in  which  he  was  so  little  at  home.  By 
the  time  that  the  antagonism  between  him 
and  Hamilton  had  become  fairly  developed,  all 
the  principal  features  of  Hamilton's  financial 
scheme,  except  only  the  national  bank,  had  be- 
come complete  and  adopted  parts  of  the  gov- 
ernmental machinery.  There  was  no  need, 
therefore,  to  encounter  them  with  argument, 
but  only  to  revile  them  in  a  broad  way. 

It  has  been  said  that  Washington  formed  his 
cabinet  with  a  deliberate  purpose  of  amalgama- 
ting parties  by  bringing  together,  as  political 
comrades,  the  two  chief  representatives  of  op- 
posing opinions.  This  erroneous  statement  lias 
been  sustained  by  two  other  incorrect  proposi- 
tions, namely,  (1)  that  Jefferson  was  opposed 
to  the  Constitution  which  Hamilton  befriended, 
a  theory  already  shown  to  be  untrue  ;  (2)  that 
he  and  Hamilton  had  respectively  from  the  be- 
ginning established  policies  antagonistic  to  each 
other,  which  is  a  palpable  misrepresentation. 
For  a  while  all  was  doubtful  and  tentative  con- 
cerning both  men  and  measures  in  the  new  gov- 
ernment, although  the  outcome  now  appears  to 
have  been  so  strictly  in  accordance  with  the 
logic  of  circumstances,  and  the  native  bent  and 
qualities  of  the  different  individuals,  that  it  is 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  107 

difficult  not  to  carry  back  the  later  opinions  and 
knowledge  to  a  date  at  which  neither  could 
have  existed.  It  took  some  time  for  this  logic 
and  these  qualities  to  become  apparent  to  the 
chief  actors,  who  learned  each  other's  ways  of 
thinking  only  by  degrees.  Meanwhile  Hamil- 
ton and  Jefferson  met  upon  a  friendly  footing, 
and  for  a  time  apparently  entertained  no  sus- 
picion that  they  would  not  be  able  to  pursue  an 
harmonious  policy.  Indeed,  there  hardly  were 
at  first  two  parties  or  two  systems  of  national 
politics  in  the  country.  The  material  for  form- 
ing these  lay  ready  at  hand  in  the  natural  con- 
stitution of  men's  minds,  but  it  still  reposed  like 
ore  in  the  mine,  half  unseen  and  wholly  un- 
shaped.  There  were  those  who  always  instinc- 
tively said  Nay  to  all  proposals  coming  from 
Hamilton ;  but  they  were  not  an  organized 
party,  and  had  no  defined  policy  of  their  own. 
It  was  very  gradually  that  what  deserved  to  be 
called  a  hostile  school  of  political  thought  was 
developed  by  the  measures  of  the  government. 
Only  as  the  Hamiltonian  structure  grew  piece 
by  piece  did  the  design  of  the  builder  appear 
to  be  much  more  comprehensive  than  had  been 
at  first  understood.  Then  it  was  seen  that 
Hamilton,  besides  substituting  order  for  con- 
fusion, and  solvency  for  insolvency,  had  also 
been  creating  a  very  powerful  governmental 


108  THOMAS  JEFFERSON". 

machine  ;  then  men  saw  how  deep  down  in  the 
nation  he  had  succeeded  in  setting  the  founda- 
tions of  the  government,  and  what  extensive 
powers  he  had  grasped  for  it,  by  construing  the 
Constitution  to  his  purpose.  They  remembered 
that  he  theoretically  believed  in  a  monarchical 
form,  and  they  saw  that  he  was  fast  making 
this  republican  government  not  less  strong  and 
centralized  than  a  limited  monarchy.  Then 
the  men  of  democratic  minds  became  combined 
together  through  their  common  alarm  ;  and  as 
no  man  was  more  thoroughly  democratic  than 
Jefferson,  so  no  man  was  more  profoundly 
alarmed.  We  have  but  to  recall  his  talk  about 
the  charms  of  newspapers  without  a  govern- 
ment, and  about  the  excellence  of  the  Indian 
form  of  polity,  to  conceive  the  horror  with 
which  he  beheld  this  rapid  transformation  of  a 
federal  league  into  a  national  unit.  No  sooner 
did  he  get  a  notion  of  the  ruinous  course  by 
which  Hamilton  was  steering  the  ship,  than  he 
began  to  whisper  warnings  among  the  passen- 
gers, to  organize  a  species  of  mutiny  against 
one  who,  in  truth,  had  no  more  exclusive  right 
to  the  helm  than  he  himself  had.  So  the  pe- 
riod of  confidence  between  Hamilton  and  Jef- 
ferson endured  only  for  a  limited  time,  and 
though  they  remained  personal  friends  for  a 
short  while  after  they  had  become  political  op- 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  109 

ponents,  yet  such  accusations  and  personalities 
as  were  soon  cast  against  each  by  the  friends 
and  followers  of  the  other  ere  long  destroyed 
all  traces  of  good  feeling,  and  they  distrusted 
and  hated  each  other,  and  fought  and  denounced 
each  other  bitterly,  and  believed  every  possible 
ill  pf  each  other  during  the  rest  of  their  lives. 

Most  unfortunately  for  his  own  good  fame, 
Jefferson  allowed  himself  to  be  drawn  by  this 
feud  into  the  preparation  of  the  famous  "Anas." 
His  friends  have  hardly  dared  to  undertake  a 
defence  of  those  terrible  records,  and  the  very 
manner  of  those  apologies  which  some  have  ven- 
tured to  present  has  been  fatal  to  their  efficacy. 
The  editor  of  the  Congressional  edition  of  Jef- 
ferson's works  excuses  the  insertion  of  these 
post-mortuary  slanders  on  the  ground  of  edito- 
rial duty,  and  only  reluctantly  suffers  himself  to 
become  the  formal  agent  of  their  perpetuation. 
But  there  is  no  symptom  that  Jefferson  thought 
that  it  was  unbecoming  in  him  to  set  down  all 
the  idle  rumors,  the  slander  and  gossip  received 
at  third  and  fourth  hand,  the  malicious  tales  of 
enemies,  aimed  at  the  good  fame  of  an  adver- 
sary who,  at  least,  had  never  dealt  him  an  un- 
fair blow,  and  to  leave  this  odious  collection  of 
poisonous  scraps  to  be  published  not  only  after 
the  death  of  that  adversary,  and  so  late  that 
no  substantial  opportunity  of  contradictions  by 


110  THOMAS  JEFFERSON1. 

contemporary  evidence  remained,  but  also  after 
his  own  death,  so  that  he  could  not  be  called 
upon  to  sustain  his  statements,  or  punished  for 
failure  to  do  so.  It  must  be  confessed  that  the 
compilation  of  these  unfortunate  and  most  dis- 
reputable fragments  is  among  the  meanest  acts 
recorded  by  history,  and  that  it  has  more  im- 
paired Jefferson's  good  name  than  all  the  other 
mistakes  of  his  life  and  all  the  assaults  of  his 
enemies.  Had  he  been  able  to  resist  the  temp- 
tation to  seek  such  an  ignoble  revenge  on  a 
dead  foe,  he  would  have  lived  in  history  as  a 
man  of  a  far  more  honorable  spirit  than  can 
now  be  attributed  to  him. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  —  GROWTH  OF  DISSEN- 
SIONS. 

JEFFERSON  was  the  most  astute  and  success- 
ful politician  who  has  yet  flourished  in  a  coun- 
try singularly  and  unfortunately  prolific  of  this 
not  very  estimable  race.  But  he  was  very  much 
more  than  a  politician,  and  he  added  something 
even  to  the  essential  traits  of  a  statesman  ;  he 
was  a  profound  thinker  concerning  the  theory 
of  government  and  the  principles  of  social  and 
political  organization.  In  full  accord  with  the 
new  spirit  of  his  era,  he  was  a  radical  even 
among  radicals,  and  a  democrat  of  the  ex- 
treme class.  He  could  hardly  bring  himself  to 
declare  that  the  people  should  govern,  because 
he  had  a  lurking  notion  that  there  should  be 
no  government  at  all.  "  The  rights  of  man," 
the  favorite  slang  phrase  of  the  day,  signified 
to  his  mind  an  almost  entire  absence  of  govern- 
mental control.  His  milder  opponents  called 
him  a  visionary,  and  the  hopeless  impractica- 
bility of  many  of  his  theories  almost  justified 
the  term.  His  more  bitter  assailants  stigma- 


112  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

tized  him  as  dishonest ;  and  there  certainly  was 
an  element  of  disingenuousness  in  his  charac- 
ter, a  covert  habit  in  his  dealings,  and  a  care- 
lessness concerning  the  truth  in  small  matters. 
But  his  belief  in  the  doctrines  of  human  free- 
dom was  a  pure  and  deep  conviction,  an  inerad- 
icable portion  of  his  nature.  His  faith  in  the 
laxest  form  of  democracy,  scarcely  removed 
from  anarchy,  stood  to  him  in  the  place  of  a 
religion ;  he  preached  it  with  a  fervor,  inten- 
sity, and  constancy  worthy  of  Mahomet  or 
Wesley.  It  was  an  inevitable  consequence  of 
this  vehement  conviction  that  he  regarded  sup- 
porters of  contrary  principles  with  distrust  and 
abhorrence  as  wicked  men,  conscious  promulga- 
tors  of  falsehood  in  the  most  important  of  all 
human  concerns.  Evil  reports  concerning  them 
seemed  so  intrinsically  probable  as  always  to 
command  his  ready  belief  ;  and  there  is  no  evi- 
dence that  he  ever  refused  to  credit  any  mali- 
cious tale  repeated  against  them,  no  matter  how 
tainted  in  its  origin  or  progress.  He  was  ob- 
servant and  quick-witted,  and  soon  appreciated 
the  skill  with  which  Hamilton  was  rapidly  con- 
structing a  powerful  centralized  government. 
At  Hamilton's  back  he  beheld  a  disciplined 
body  of  able  and  ambitious  men,  some  filling 
places  of  public  trust  and  power,  others  absorb- 
ing wealth,  all  in  one  shape  or  another  acquir- 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  113 

ing  an  extensive  and  irresistible  influence  in 
the  body  politic  and  social.  Jefferson  gazed 
upon  this  portentous  growth  with  dread  and  re- 
pulsion. He  saw  enough  to  induce  him  fear- 
fully to  anticipate  the  destruction  of  human 
freedom  in  the  United  States,  and  he  suspected 
much  more  than  he  saw.  As  he  peered  into 
the  mystery  of  the  Federalist  policy,  the  vision 
of  monarchy  took  shape  before  his  eyes  and 
long  remained  with  him,  an  ever  present  and 
vivid  terror.  Henceforth  in  every  measure  of 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  he  discerned  an 
artful  move  in  the  monarchical  game ;  at  every 
social  gathering  of  Federalists  he  seemed  to 
hear  the  whispered  plots  of  "  Monocrats."  If 
gentlemen,  flushed  with  wine  after  dinner, 
made  statements  far  outrunning  their  sober  be- 
liefs, their  extravagant  words  were  borne  in 
exaggerated  form  to  Jefferson's  ears,  were  mag- 
nified by  his  excited  mind,  and  were  stored 
away  by  him  as  conclusive  evidence  of  mon- 
archical projects.  The  idea  became  a  mono- 
mania with  him.  He  wrote  it  to  his  friends, 
he  jotted  it  down  on  the  scraps  of  paper 
which  afterward  were  gathered  together  for 
the  "  Anas ;  "  he  mournfully  bore  the  gossip  to 
Washington,  and  was  not  to  be  deterred  from 
repeating  it,  though  the  President  told  him 
that  he  was  talking  nonsense. 
8 


114  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Long  afterward,  looking  back  upon  this  pe- 
riod, Jefferson  declared  that  these  dreadful 
monarchical  tendencies  had  been  visible  to 
him  from  the  earliest  days  of  his  arrival  in 
New  York. 

"  The  President,"  he  says,  "  received  me  cor- 
dially, and  my  colleagues  and  the  whole  circle  of 
principal  citizens  apparently  with  welcome.  The 
courtesies  of  both  political  parties,  given  me  as  a 
stranger  newly  arrived  among  them,  placed  me  at 
once  in  their  familiar  society.  But  I  cannot  describe 
the  wonder  and  mortification  with  which  the  table 
conversations  filled  me.  Politics  were  the  chief 
topic,  and  a  preference  of  kingly  over  republican 
government  was  evidently  the  favorite  sentiment. 
An  apostate  I  could  not  be,  nor  yet  a  hypocrite ;  and 
I  found  myself,  for  the  most  part,  the  only  advocate 
on  the  republican  side  of  the  question,  unless  among 
the  guests  there  chanced  to  be  some  member  of  that 
party  from  the  legislative  houses." 

These  sentences  linger  in  that  debatable  land, 
somewhere  in  which  exaggeration  passes  into 
falsehood.  Evidently,  in  looking  back  down 
the  long  vista  of  nearly  thirty  years,  Jeffer- 
son's vision  was  indistinct.  If  he  had  really 
been  plunged  into  such  a  chilling  bath  of  mon- 
archy at  once  upon  his  arrival  in  New  York,  he 
would  have  cried  out  promptly  at  the  sudden 
shock,  and  left  contemporaneous  evidence  of  it; 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  115 

whereas,  in  fact,  some  time  elapsed  before  he 
began  to  give  perceptible  symptoms  of  distress 
at  the  unsound  political  faith  about  him.  Mon- 
archy was  doubtless  spoken  of  in  a  manner  of- 
fensive to  his  democratic  ears.  The  Constitu- 
tion was  a  compromise  wholly  satisfactory  to 
no  one;  the  government  was  undeniably  an  ex- 
periment ;  and  its  probable  efficiency  was  often 
discussed  as  an  open  question.  Sentiments  of 
loyalty,  pride,  and  affection  had  not  had  time 
to  strike  deep  root.  But  Jefferson  made  a  mis- 
take in  construing  an  anxious  doubt  as  equiv- 
alent to  active  disaffection ;  and  was  guilty  of 
a  gross,  though  certainly  an  unintentional,  in- 
justice in  charging  the  advocates  of  a  strong 
system  with  a  design  of  changing  the  form  of 
government.  He  was  driven  beyond  his  reason 
by  foolish  terrors  when  he  spoke  of  Hamilton 
as  the  enemy  of  the  Constitution.  Every  one 
has  long  since  agreed  that  the  Constitution  had 
no  other  friend  nearly  so  efficient  as  Hamilton. 
No  man  living  had  better  means  of  knowledge 
concerning  these  matters  than  Washington, 
and  no  man  was  intellectually  more  capable  of 
forming  a  correct  judgment.  Yet  even  Jeffer- 
son could  not  in  his  "Anas"  set  down  the  lan- 
guage, which  the  President  held  to  him,  in 
shape  more  corroborative  of  his  views  than 
this:  "That  with  respect  to  the  existing  causes 


116  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

of  uneasiness,  he  [Washington]  thought  there 
were  suspicions  against  a  particular  party  which 
had  been  carried  a  great  deal  too  far.  There 
might  be  desires,  but  he  did  not  believe  there 
were  designs,  to  change  the  form  of  govern- 
ment into  a  monarchy ;  that  there  might  be  a 
few  who  wished  it  in  the  higher  walks  of  life, 
particularly  in  the  great  cities,  but  that  the 
main  body  of  the  people  in  the  Eastern  States 
were  as  steadily  for  republicanism  as  in  the 
Southern."  Making  ever  so  slight  allowance 
for  refraction  by  reason  of  the  transmission  of 
these  words  through  the  Jeffersonian  medium, 
we  see  the  most  inadequate  basis  for  the  vast 
pile  of  Jefferson's  suspicion. 

But  in  dealing  with  Jefferson's  conduct,  it  is 
not  the  truth  which  must  be  sought  so  much  as 
Jefferson's  idea  of  the  truth.  That  he  had  an 
honest  belief  in  the  monarchical  conspiracy, 
and  in  the  treasonable  designs  of  the  Hamil- 
tonian  clique,  appears  certain.  Indeed,  if  he 
began  with  a  faith  like  a  grain  of  mustard  seed, 
he  must  soon  have  caused  it  to  expand  into  a 
vigorous  tree,  so  liberally  did  he  water  it  with 
the  ceaseless  iteration  and  reiteration  of  his  own 
assertions.  Frequent  repetition  of  a  statement 
assumes  in  time  the  aspect  of  evidence ;  and 
what  he  said  so  often  he  probably  at  last  came 
to  believe.  Unquestionably  he  induced  others 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  117 

to  believe  it.  For  years  his  talk  was  of  "  mon- 
archists "  and  "  monocrats,"  till  the  reader  of 
his  letters  and  memoirs  regards  these  people 
like  the  sea-serpent,  feels  that  it  would  be  in- 
congruous if  so  familiar  a  name  did  not  repre- 
sent some  real  existence,  and  in  a  way  permits 
the  fiction  to  be  asserted  into  a  reality.  There 
was  an  earnestness,  or,  as  he  himself  would  have 
said,  a  venom,  in  Jefferson's  language,  when  he 
dealt  with  this  topic,  indicating  a  force  and 
depth  of  feeling  hardly  to  be  adequately  con- 
veyed by  description,  and  which  is  so  utterly 
inappropriate  for  a  fable  that  it  seems  suffi- 
ciently to  imply  truth. 

If  the  purpose  of  the  monarchical  party  was 
abhorrent  to  Jefferson,  so  their  means  appeared 
consonantly  base.  The  decision  to  pay  in  full  not 
only  the  principal  of  the  domestic  debt,  but  also 
the  arrears  of  interest,  followed  by  the  assump- 
tion of  the  State  indebtedness,  furnished,  during 
a  year  and  a  half,  opportunities  for  speculation 
which  were  availed  of  with  an  ardor  that  has 
not  been  surpassed  in  Wall  Street  in  our  own 
generation.  Naturally  those  who  gathered  in 
the  securities  at  low  prices  were  the  men  of 
capital,  sagacity,  and  enterprise,  who  lived  in 
cities,  more  especially  residents  in  New  York 
and  Philadelphia,  who  could  best  forecast  con- 
gressional action.  Naturally,  too,  those  who 


118  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

had  most  faith  in  Hamilton  plunged  most 
boldly  into  the  venture.  Jefferson,  therefore, 
and  others  who  had  taken  fright  at  the  mon- 
archical scarecrow,  were  scandalized  and  alarmed 
as  they  saw  the  supporters  of  Hamiltonian  meas- 
ures reaping  a  great  harvest  of  wealth,  and 
consequently  of  political  power  and  social  con- 
sideration. They  began  to  charge  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  with  winning  adherents  by 
giving  opportunities  of  growing  suddenly  and 
enormously  rich.  That  great  financial  system 
which,  in  a  few  brief  months,  had  raised  the 
United  States  from  a  condition  of  pitiful  and 
ignoble  bankruptcy  to  the  status  of  a  solvent 
power  in  excellent  credit,  wore,  to  Jefferson's 
suspicious  eyes,  the  aspect  of  a  great,  complex, 
and  terribly  efficient  machine  for  building  up 
in  the  State  the  most  dangerous  kind  of  aristo- 
cratical  party. 

His  dissatisfaction  was  further  nourished  by 
other  measures ;  the  military  establishment  dis- 
gusted him,  because  he  abhorred  every  manifes- 
tation of  governmental  power  or  control.  The 
excise  seemed  odious,  because  he  thought  that 
all  branches  of  internal  taxation  ought  to  be 
left  to  the  States.  But  most  of  all  the  propo- 
sition for  a  national  bank  appeared  to  bristle 
with  objectionable  traits.  By  the  time  that 
Hamilton  was  prepared  to  push  this  project,  the 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  119 

political  operation  of  his  financial  policy  was 
fully  appreciated  and,  indeed,  greatly  exagger- 
ated by  Jefferson  ;  nor  was  it  longer  possible 
for  the  treasury  party  to  coerce  support  by  de- 
claring the  existence  of  the  Union  to  be  at 
stake.  This  bank  act  involved  first  a  question 
of  law  and  then  one  of  expediency.  In  the 
former  aspect  it  presented  much  difficulty,  and 
Washington  asked  for  written  opinions  from  his 
cabinet  officers.  Hamilton  supported  it  in  an 
argument  which  is  one  of  the  most  famous  of 
our  state  papers.  Jefferson  took  the  other  side 
and  argued  the  legal  point,  which  alone  he  un- 
derstood, with  much  force  and  ability.  After 
great  hesitation  Washington  decided  to  sign  the 
bill.  He  was  always  reluctant  to  interfere  with 
his  secretaries  in  their  respective  departments ; 
furthermore,  if  he  was  making  a  constitutional 
error  it  could  be  corrected  by  the  Supreme 
Court.  In  due  time  that  tribunal  sustained  the 
constitutionality  of  the  bank,  Chief  Justice 
Marshall  delivering  an  opinion  in  which  he 
added  nothing  to  the  reasoning  of  Hamilton. 
But  though  the  views  of  Jefferson  were  thus 
finally  rejected,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that 
the  question,  regarded  as  one  purely  of  law, 
might  just  as  well  or  better  have  been  deter- 
mined the  other  way.  The  issue  was,  whether 
a  rigid  or  a  liberal  construction  should  be  given 


120  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

to  the  general  clauses  of  the  Constitution  ;  and  a 
bench  of  strict  constructionists  would  have  en- 
countered no  insuperable  legal  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  sustaining  Jefferson. 

But  if  the  legal  and  constitutional  aspects 
and  the  political  bearing  of  this  measure  were 
easily  within  Jefferson's  comprehension,  its  rela- 
tions to  the  finances  and  business  of  the  coun- 
try were  far  beyond  his  understanding.  He 
proclaimed  the  most  ignorant  theories  and 
talked  the  most  absurd  twaddle  about  its  mis- 
chievous introduction  of  paper  money,  and  the 
consequent  banishment  of  gold  and  silver  from 
circulation.  When  the  subscription  books  were 
opened,  he  saw  with  melancholy  forebodings  the 
capitalists  rushing  forward  in  such  eager  com- 
petition that  much  more  than  the  capital  stock 
was  quickly  subscribed.  He  wrote  gloomily  to 
Monroe :  "  Thus  it  is  that  we  shall  be  paying 
thirteen  per  cent,  per  annum  for  eight  millions 
of  paper  money,  instead  of  having  that  circula- 
tion of  gold  and  silver  for  nothing.  .  .  .  For 
the  paper  emitted  from  the  bank,  seven  per 
cent,  profits  will  be  received  by  the  subscribers 
for  it  as  bank  paper,  .  .  .  and  six  per  cent,  in 
the  public  paper  of  which  it  is  the  representa- 
tive. Nor  is  there  any  reason  to  believe  that 
either  the  six  millions  of  paper  or  the  two  mil- 
lions of  specie  deposited  will  not  be  suffered  to 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  121 

be  withdrawn,  and  the  paper  thrown  into  cir- 
culation. The  cash  deposited  by  strangers  for 
safe-keeping  will  probably  suffice  for  cash  de- 
mands." He  was  probably  ignorant  that  such 
special  deposits  could  not  lawfully  be  used  by 
the  bank  at  all ;  and  this  is  only  a  sample  of 
his  general  lack  of  knowledge  in  all  matters  of 
business. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  bank,  whether 
constitutional  or  not,  was  of  immense  advan- 
tage to  the  country  ;  but  Jefferson  could  see 
in  it  only  a  prolific  machine  for  turning  out 
more  corrupt  supporters  of  that  dangerous  and 
designing  monarchist,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  Henceforth  his  abuse  of  the  "  treas- 
ury party,"  as  he  called  it,  redoubled ;  nor  did 
he  ever  modify  this  opinion  to  the  end  of  his 
life.  In  his  introduction  to  the  "  Anas,"  in 
1818,  he  recorded  that  "  Hamilton  was  not  only 
a  monarchist,  but  for  a  monarchy  bottomed  on 
corruption ;  "  and  he  said  that  the  bank  was 
designed  as  an  "  engine  of  influence  more  perma- 
nent," for  corrupting  the  Legislature,  than  the 
funding  system  and  assumption  could  be.  Ac- 
cordingly "  members  of  both  houses,"  he  said, 
"  were  constantly  kept  as  directors  who,  on 
every  question  interesting  to  that  institution 
or  to  the  views  of  the  Federal  head,  voted  at 
the  will  of  that  head ;  and,  together  with  the 


122  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

stockholding  members,  could  always  make  the 
Federal  vote  that  of  the  majority."  On  March 
3,  1793,  discussing  Giles'  famous  resolutions  of 
censure  on  Hamilton,  he  notes  "  the  composi- 
tion of  the  House,  1,  of  bank  directors ;  2, 
holders  of  bank  stock ;  3,  stock  jobbers ;  4, 
blind  devotees;  5,  ignorant  persons  who  did 
not  comprehend  them  ;  6,  lazy  and  good  hu- 
mored persons,  who  comprehended  and  acknowl- 
edged them,  yet  were  too  lazy  to  examine,  or 
unwilling  to  pronounce  censure ;  the  persons 
who  knew  these  characters  foresaw  that,  the 
three  first  descriptions  making  one  third  of  the 
House,  the  three  latter  would  make  one  half 
of  the  residue."  It  was  thus  that  he  endeav- 
ored to  account  for  the  ignominious  failure  of 
the  anti-Federalist  attempt  to  establish  definite 
charges  of  dishonesty  againt  Hamilton  ;  and  ad- 
mitted his  sympathy  with  the  blunder  of  that 
unfortunate  and  disastrous  measure. 

Another  thing  which  Jefferson  beheld  with 
horror  was  the  national  debt.  Besides  the  spec- 
ulation which  soon  ended  in  widespread  ruin,  he 
conceived  that  he  detected  a  purpose  on  Hamil- 
ton's part  to  use  this  debt  permanently,  in  some 
ingenious  and  covert  way,  as  a  perpetual  re- 
source for  corrupting  the  Legislature.  The  fact 
that  a  portion  of  it  had  been  made  " deferred" 
for  a  few  years,  convinced  him  that  Hamilton 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  123 

intended  never  to  let  the  people  pay  what  they 
owed  and  get  clear  of  obligation.  Everybody, 
he  said,  stood  in  dread  of  the  "  chickens  of  the 
treasury  "  and  their  "  many  contrivances."  "As 
the  doctrine  is  that  a  public  debt  is  a  public 
blessing,  so  they  think  a  perpetual  one  is  a  per- 
petual blessing,  and  therefore  wish  to  make  it 
so  large  that  we  can  never  pay  it  off."  He 
could  not  be  induced  to  renounce  this  suspicion, 
even  when  a  scheme  was  brought  forward  by 
Hamilton  to  promote  payment  within  a  short 
period.  No  evidence  ever  could  persuade  him 
that  Hamilton  was  politically  honest,  and  no 
lapse  of  time  could  allay  his  prejudices. 

Washington,  meanwhile,  watched  with  pro- 
found concern  the  development  of  a  spirit  of 
antagonism  and  distrust  between  his  chief  sec- 
retaries, and  the  coincident  organization  of 
hostile  political  parties.  He  himself,  elevated 
to  office  by  the  whole  nation,  was  resolved  to 
hold  aloof  from  any  party  connections.  But  he 
could  not  close  his  ears  to  the  ceaseless  din  of 
accusations,  arguments,  and  complaints  which 
the  opposing  leaders  insisted  upon  making  him 
hear.  On  May  23, 1792,  Jefferson  wrote  to  the 
President  a  long  letter  "  disburdening"  him- 
self concerning  a  "  subject  of  inquietude  "  al- 
most coextensive  with  the  whole  national  affairs. 
He  introduced  his  strictures  by  saying  "  it  has 


124  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

been  urged,"  but  soon  lie  warmed  with  his 
work,  threw  off  the  impersonality  of  this  phrase, 
and  openly  delivered  his  own  sentiments.  A 
public  debt,  he  said,  too  great  to  be  paid  before 
it  would  inevitably  be  increased  by  new  cir- 
cumstances, had  been  "artificially  created  by 
adding  together  the  whole  amount  of  the  debtor 
and  creditor  sides  of  accounts  ; "  the  finances 
had  been  managed  not  only  extravagantly  but 
so  as  to  create  "  a  corrupt  squadron,  deciding 
the  voice  of  the  Legislature,"  and  manifesting 
"  a  disposition  to  get  rid  of  the  limitations  im- 
posed by  the  Constitution  ;  "  "  that  the  ultimate 
object  of  all  this  is  to  prepare  the  way  for  a 
change  from  the  present  republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment to  that  of  a  monarchy."  He  was  pos- 
itive that  "  the  corruption  of  the  Legislature " 
would  prove  "  the  instrument  for  producing  in 
future  a  king,  lords,  and  commons,  or  whatever 
else  those  who  direct  it  may  choose."  "  The 
owers  of  the  debt  are  in  the  southern  and  the 
holders  of  it  in  the  northern  division,"  so  that 
a  sectional  distribution  exists  fraught  with  im- 
minent danger  of  dissolution  of  the  Union.  He 
is  so  convinced  that  nothing  save  Washington's 
continuance  in  office  can  avert  this  peril,  that 
he  lays  aside  his  objections  to  a  second  term, 
and  implores  the  President  not  to  think  of  re- 
tiring. 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  125 

These  same  apprehensions  he  reiterated 
whenever  occasion  offered.  On  July  10, 1792, 
he  urged  upon  the  President  "that  the  na- 
tional debt  was  unnecessarily  increased  and 
that  it  had  furnished  the  means  of  corrupting 
both  branches  of  the  Legislature ;  that  .  .  . 
there  was  a  considerable  squadron  in  both, 
whose  votes  were  devoted  to  the  paper  and 
stock-jobbing  interests,  .  .  .  that  on  examining 
the  votes  of  these  men  they  would  be  found 
uniformly  for  every  treasury  measure,  and  that 
as  most  of  these  measures  had  been  carried  by 
small  majorities,  they  were  carried  by  these 
very  votes." 

Two  or  three  months  earlier  he  had  told 
Washington  that  all  existing  discontents  were 
to  be  attributed  to  the  Treasury  Department : 

"  that  a  system  had  there  been  contrived  for  delug- 
ing the  States  with  paper  money  instead  of  gold  and 
silver,  for  withdrawing  our  citizens  from  the  pur- 
suits of  commerce,  manufactures,  building,  and  other 
branches  of  useful  industry,  to  occupy  themselves 
and  their  capitals  in  a  species  of  gambling,  destruc- 
tive of  morality,  and  which  had  introduced  its  poison 
into  the  government  itself.  That  it  was  a  fact  .  .  . 
that  particular  members  of  the  Legislature,  while 
those  laws  were  on  the  carpet,  had  feathered  their 
nests  with  paper,  had  then  voted  for  the  laws ;  .  .  . 
that  they  had  now  brought  forward  a  proposition  far 


126  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

beyond  any  one  ever  yet  advanced,  and|  to  which  the 
eyes  of  many  were  turned  as  the  decision  which  was 
to  let  us  know  whether  we  live  under  a  limited  or  an 
unlimited  government." 

This  reference  bore  upon  that  part  of  Hamil- 
ton's famous  report  on  manufactures  "which, 
under  color  of  giving  bounties  for  the  encour- 
agement of  particular  manufactures,"  was  de- 
signed to  grasp  for  Congress  control  of  all 
matters  "  which  they  should  deem  for  the  pub- 
lic welfare  and  which  [were]  susceptible  of  the 
application  of  money,"  as  certainly  few  matters 
were  not.  On  October  1,  1792,  he  says  that 
he  told  Washington 

"  that  though  the  people  were  sound,  there  were  a 
numerous  sect  who  had  monarchy  in  contemplation ; 
that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  one  of  these. 
That  I  had  heard  him  say  that  this  Constitution  was 
a  shilly-shally  thing  of  mere  milk  and  water,  which 
could  not  last  and  was  only  good  as  a  step  to  some- 
thing better.  That  when  we  reflected  that  he  had 
endeavored  in  the  Convention  to  make  an  English 
Constitution  of  it,  and  when  failing  in  that  we  saw 
all  his  measures  tending  to  bring  it  to  the  same 
thing,  it  was  natural  for  us  to  be  jealous  ;  and  par- 
ticularly when  we  saw  that  these  measures  had  es- 
tablished corruption  in  the  Legislature,  where  there 
was  a  squadron  devoted  to  the  nod  of  the  Treasury, 
doing  whatever  he  had  directed  and  ready  to  do  what 
he  should  direct." 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  127 

On  February  7,  1793,  lie  again  said  that  the 
ill-feeling  at  the  South  was  due  to  a  belief  in 
the  existence  "  of  a  corrupt  squadron  of  voters 
in  Congress,  at  the  command  of  the  Treasury," 
sufficiently  numerous  to  make  the  laws  the 
reverse  of  what  they  would  have  been  had  only 
honest  votes  been  cast. 

It  was  seldom  that  Jefferson  was  at  the 
trouble  to  aim  a  shaft  directly  at  any  one  save 
Hamilton,  but  once,  May  8,  1791,  he  took  an 
insidious  side-shot  at  John  Adams.  "I  am 
afraid,"  he  wrote  to  Washington,  "the  indiscre- 
tion of  a  printer  has  committed  me  with  my 
friend,  Mr.  Adams,  for  whom,  as  one  of  the 
most  honest  and  disinterested  men  alive,  I  have 
a  cordial  esteem,  increased  by  long  habits  of 
concurrence  in  opinion  in  the  days  of  his  re- 
publicanism ;  and  even  since  his  apostasy  to 
hereditary  monarchy  and  nobility,  though  we 
differ,  we  differ  as  friends  should  do." 

What  he  said  to  Washington,  he  said  and 
wrote  also  to  others.  So  early  as  February  4, 
1791,  he  wrote  to  Colonel  Mason,  that,  "It 
cannot  be  denied  that  we  have  among  us  a  sect 
who  believe  it  [the  English  Constitution]  to 
contain  whatever  is  perfect  in  human  institu- 
tions; that  the  members  of  this  sect  have,  many 
of  them,  names  and  offices  which  stand  high  in 
the  estimation  of  our  countrymen."  July  29, 


128  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

1791,  writing  to  Thomas  Paine,  he  speaks  of  a 
"sect  here,  high  in  name,  but  small  in  num- 
bers," who  had  been  indulging  a  false  hope 
that  the  people  were  undergoing  conversion 
"  to  the  doctrine  of  kings,  lords,  and  com- 
mons ; "  but  he  politely  adds  that  this  delu- 
sion has  been  "  checked  at  least,"  and  the 
people  "confirmed  in  their  good  old  faith,"  by 
the  recent  publication  of  Paine's  "  Rights  of 
Man."  To  Lafayette  he  writes,  June  16, 1792 : 
"  A  sect  has  shown  itself  among  us  who  declare 
they  espoused  our  new  Constitution,  not  as  a 
good  and  sufficient  thing  in  itself,  but  only  as 
a  step  to  an  English  Constitution,  the  only 
thing  good  and  sufficient  in  itself  in  their  eye. 
.  .  .  Too  many  of  these  stock-jobbers  and  king- 
jobbers  have  come  into  our  Legislature  ;  or, 
rather,  too  many  of  our  Legislature  have  be- 
come stock-jobbers  and  king-jobbers." 

During  this  prolonged  stress  of  anxiety  and 
alarm,  Jefferson,  who  was  unquestionably  a  sin- 
cere patriot  and  honest  in  his  opinions,  sought 
encouragement  in  such  evidence  of  republican 
sentiment  as  he  could  discover  in  the  mass  of 
the  people.  His  faith  and  reliance  were  always 
in  numbers,  and  in  the  vast  bulk  of  the  popu- 
lation, rather  than  in  the  politicians  and  upper 
classes  of  society,  who  appeared  more  promi- 
nently upon  the  surface.  Accordingly  he  never 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  129 

missed  an  opportunity  of  dropping  his  plummet 
into  the  mighty  depths  beneath  ;  and  if  he  dis- 
covered those  profound  currents  to  be  in  accord 
with  his  own  tendencies,  as  he  always  expected 
to  and  generally  did,  he  refreshed  his  wearied 
spirit  with  the  instinctive  anticipation  that 
these  would  control  the  course  of  the  country 
at  no  distant  time.  Herein  lay  his  deep  wis- 
dom :  he  enjoyed  a  political  vision  penetrating 
deeper  down  into  the  inevitable  movement  of 
popular  government,  and  further  forward  into 
the  future  trend  of  free  institutions,  than  was 
possessed  by  any  other  man  in  public  life  in  his 
day.  He  had  sound  confidence  that  the  multi- 
tude, led  by  a  single  able  strategist  like  him- 
self, was  sure  in  time  to  outvote  and  overpower 
the  much  smaller  body  of  educated  men  who 
understood  and  admired  the  statesmanship  of 
Hamilton. 

But  concerning  this  confidence  of  Jefferson  in 
the  people,  which  must  be  so  constantly  borne 
in  mind  in  order  to  comprehend  his  character, 
some  observations  should  be  made.  Not  merely 
did  he  appreciate  and  foresee  their  invincible 
power  in  politics,  but  he  had  perfect  faith  in 
the  desirability  of  the  exercise  of  that  power; 
he  anticipated  that  in  this  exercise  the  masses 
would  always  show  wisdom  and  discrimination, 
that  they  would  select  the  most  able  and  most 

9 


130  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

honest  men  in  the  country  to  preside  over  the 
national  affairs,  men  like  himself  and  Mr.  Mad- 
ison. It  was  a  delightful  ideal  of  a  body  politic 
which  he  had  before  his  eyes,  wherein  a  huge 
volume  of  human  poverty  and  ignorance  would 
be  always  pleased  to  recognize  and  set  over  it- 
self a  few  exalted  individuals  of  lofty  character 
and  distinguished  intelligence.  In  his  day  it 
was  still  a  question  how  poverty  and  ignorance 
would  behave  in  politics ;  and  it  was  his  firm 
expectation  that  they  would  behave  with  mod- 
esty and  self-abnegation.  It  was  a  kindly  belief, 
but  indicative  of  the  enthusiast.  He  deserves 
the  praise  of  thinking  better  of  his  fellow-men 
than  they  deserve.  If  he  could  see  what  sort 
of  men  have  in  fact  satisfied  the  people  since 
his  doctrines  have  become  developed,  he  would 
probably  greatly  modify  them.  His  notion  of  a 
democratic  polity  had  as  its  main  principle  that 
the  multitude  should  select  the  best  men,  and 
after  that  expectation  had  been  once  disproved 
by  fair  and  sufficient  experience,  he  would  al- 
most undoubtedly  have  abandoned  his  doctrine 
in  disappointment  and  indignation.  But  though 
this  is  matter  of  speculation,  and  may  be  correct 
or  not,  one  thing  at  least  is  certain,  that  democ- 
racy has  not  worked  as  Jefferson  expected  it  to 
work,  and  that  the  two  generations,  or  more, 
which  have  passed  away  since  his  day  hare 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  131 

brought  forth  results  which  would  have  aston- 
ished and  shocked  him,  if  presented  as  the  out- 
growth of  his  teachings. 

It  was  the  custom  of  that  period  for  men 
holding  high  official  positions  to  contribute 
anonymous  political  communications  to  the 
newspapers,  —  a  custom  which,  among  some 
advantages,  possessed  the  serious  disadvantage 
that  out  of  it  arose  much  suspicion,  ill-blood, 
and  personal  resentment.  The  misunderstand- 
ing with  John  Adams, already  referred  to,  had  its 
origin  in  an  episode  of  this  kind,  wherein  Jef- 
ferson made  an  absurd,  though  natural,  blunder. 
Adams'  "  Discourses  of  Davila"  appear  to-day 
as  stupid  reading  as  one  could  discover  in  a 
large  library;  but  in  the  times  of  which  we  are 
writing,  several  persons  read  them  through ;  and 
readers  of  democratic  proclivities  were  even 
more  incensed  than  bored  by  them.  The  doc- 
trines therein  proclaimed  were  mercilessly  cas- 
tigated in  Paine's  "  Rights  of  Man,"  of  which 
it  so  happened  that  "  the  only  copy  "  in  the 
United  States  was  sent  to  Jefferson,  with  the 
request  that,  after  reading  it,  he  would  "send 
it  to  a  Mr.  J.  B.  Smith,  who  had  asked  it  for 
his  brother  to  reprint  it."  "  Being  an  utter 
stranger  to  J.  B.  Smith,"  says  Jefferson,  "I 
wrote  a  note  to  explain  to  him  why  I  (a 
stranger  to  him)  sent  him  a  pamphlet;  .  .  . 


132  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

and  to  take  off  a  little  of  the  dry  ness  of  the 
note,  I  wrote  that  I  was  glad  to  find  it  was  to 
be  reprinted ;  that  something  would  at  length 
be  publicly  said  against  the  political  heresies 
which  had  lately  sprung  np  among  us,"  etc. 
To  Jefferson's  "great  astonishment,"  the  printer 
"prefixed"  this  note  to  the  volume.  At  once 
the  Federalist  writers  settled  like  a  hive  of 
hornets  upon  the  unfortunate  sponsor  of  "  Tom  " 
Paine,  and  a  peculiarly  vigorous  sting  was  sent 
in  by  one  Publicola.  Jefferson  hastened  to 
write  two  letters  of  explanation  to  Mr.  Adams, 
deprecating  any  quarrel,  and  speaking  with 
especial  animosity  and  contempt  of  the  mis- 
chief-making Publicola.  Little  did  he  think 
with  what  a  freight  he  had  laden  his  peaceful 
missives,  for  Publicola  was  none  other  than 
John  Quincy  Adams  himself,  whose  family 
were  very  proud  of  this  early  filial  exploit. 
Such  were  some  of  the  perils  of  this  darkling 
habit  of  anonymous  newspaper  writing.  Isaac 
had  actually  been  made  a  peace-offering  to 
Abraham. 

But  difficulties  much  more  grave  than  such 
comical  errors  were  often  promoted  by  the 
newspapers  of  the  day.  Shortly  after  Jefferson 
was  appointed  Secretary  of  State,  he  received 
from  Madison  a  letter  commending  for  a  clerk- 
ship one  Philip  Freneau,  a  democratic  scribbler 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  133 

of  verses  rather  better  than  most  Americans 
could  write  in  those  days.  Jefferson  had  then 
no  vacancy  ;  but  a  little  later  he  found  a  ''clerk- 
ship for  foreign  languages,"  carrying  only  the 
petty  salary  of  "  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
a  year,"  but  giving  "  so  little  to  do  as  not  to 
interfere  with  any  other  calling"  which  the 
clerk  might  choose  to  carry  on.  In  a  very  kind 
note  Jefferson  conferred  this  modest  position 
upon  Freneau,  and  in  so  doing  wrote  the  first 
stanza  in  a  long  Iliad  of  troubles.  For  it  so 
happened  that  the  "  other  calling "  which  the 
ill-paid  translating  clerk  selected  for  eking  out 
his  subsistence  was  the  editorship  of  a  news- 
paper; and  it  further  so  happened  that  Mr. 
Freneau  had  a  zealous  faith  in  the  chief  of  his 
own  department,  and  a  correspondingly  intense 
aversion  towards  the  rival  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  Hitherto  Fenno's  "Gazette"  had 
represented  "the  Treasury"  without  an  equal 
opponent;  but  the  new  "National  Gazette" 
now  sustained  the  Department  of  State  with 
not  inferior  ardor,  with  an  appalling  courage 
in  the  use  of  abusive  language,  and  with  terrible 
enterprise  in  preferring  outrageous  accusations. 
For  Freneau  had  not  only  extreme  convictions, 
but  a  trenchant  pen.  Hamilton  and  his  friends 
were  soon  wincing  beneath  his  attacks;  but 
they  preferred  to  pass  by  the  writer  as  a  being 


134  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

too  insignificant  for  their  wrath,  and  to  de- 
nounce his  alleged  patron  and  protector,  the 
Secretary  of  State,  in  person.  He  it  was,  they 
said,  who  insidiously  furnished  material  and  in- 
formation to  the  disaffected  and  scurrilous  sheet 
which  was  issued,  as  they  chose  to  declare,  al- 
most actually  from  his  department.  He  was 
responsible  for  its  malicious  temper,  for  its 
reckless  aspersions  of  his  honorable  colleagues, 
and  even  of  the  President  himself.  Jefferson 
angrily  repelled  these  assertions,  declaring  that 
he  had  nothing  whatsoever  to  do,  directly  or 
indirectly,  with  the  management  of  the  paper ; 
but  at  the  same  time  having  the  courage  not 
to  conceal  that  he  thought  the  "Gazette"  to 
be  in  the  main  sound  in  its  doctrines,  and 
doing  good  work.  He  neither  dismissed  nor 
rebuked  Freneau.  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  a  rebuke  would  have  been  effectual ;  but 
his  obligation  to  give  it  is  by  no  means  clear. 
His  asseveration  that  he  did  not  interfere,  even 
indirectly,  in  the  conduct  of  the  sheet,  derives 
credit  from  the  probability  that,  if  he  had  in- 
terfered, he  would  have  been  sufficiently  wise 
and  politic  to  discourage  the  personal  attacks 
upon  Washington,  which  he  must  have  seen  to 
be  blunders.  But  in  a  broad  and  very  forcible 
way  the  paper  advocated  his  views ;  and  in 
return  he  generally  spoke  well  of  it,  and  was 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  135 

interested  in  its  success.  It  is  difficult  to  say 
that  he  was  positively  wrong  in  this.  Pos- 
sibly he  occasionally  "  inspired  "  it,  to  use  the 
ingenious,  indefinite  slang  of  our  day ;  but  it 
was  going  too  far  when  he  was  treated  as  a 
responsible  member  of  the  editorial  staff. 
Whether  it  was  becoming  in  him  to  retain  in 
his  department  a  writer  whose  daily  business 
was  to  defame  the  policy  and  character  of  a 
colleague  in  the  cabinet,  is  a  part  of  the  gen- 
eral question,  soon  to  be  discussed,  of  the  rela- 
tionship which  those  colleagues  were  bound, 
under  the  peculiar  circumstances  then  existing, 
to  maintain  towards  each  other  and  their  chief. 
At  last,  in  August,  1792,  Hamilton  was  pro- 
voked into  coming  down  to  the  lists  and  him- 
self taking  a  hand  in  the  fray.  He  descended 
like  a  giant  among  the  pigmies,  and  startled  all 
by  his  sudden  apparition  in  the  guise  of  "  An 
American."  Though  he  thus  wore  his  visor 
down,  every  one  at  once  knew  the  blows  of 
that  terrible  hand.  In  his  first  article  he  bit- 
terly assailed  Jefferson  for  retaining  his  office 
and  at  the  same  time  continuing  his  connection 
with  Freneau.  Further,  he  charged  Jefferson 
with  disloyalty  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
administration.  Jefferson  was  absent  when 
this  powerful  diatribe  appeared ;  but  Freneau 
printed  an  affidavit,  saying  that  he  had  had 


136  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

no  negotiations  with  Jefferson  concerning  the 
establishment  of  his  paper,  and  that  Jefferson 
had  never  controlled  it  in  the  least,  or  written 
or  dictated  a  line  for  it.  Hamilton,  in  replica- 
tion, contemptuously  declined  to  seek  any  other 
antagonist  than  Jefferson  himself.  His  argu- 
ments were  powerful,  and  a  great  wrath  in- 
spired his  pen.  But  defenders  of  the  Secretary 
of  State  were  not  lacking;  and  Hamilton,  being 
once  in  the  field,  had  perforce  to  lay  about 
him  among  a  throng  of  small  assailants,  for 
whose  destruction  he  cared  little,  while  Jeffer- 
son himself,  with  exasperating  caution,  declined 
to  be  drawn  into  the  furious  arena. 

Washington  beheld  this  sudden  melee  with 
extreme  annoyance,  and  made  a  noble,  pathetic, 
hopeless  effort  to  close  a  chasm  which  the  forces 
of  nature  herself  had  opened.  He  wrote  to  each 
Secretary  a  short  letter  of  personal  appeal, 
breathing  a  beautiful  spirit  of  concord  and 
patriotism.  From  each  he  received  a  note- 
worthy and  characteristic  response,  courteous 
and  considerate  towards  himself,  but  showing 
plainly  the  impossibility  of  harmony  between 
two  representatives  so  adverse  in  intellectual 
constitution.  Hamilton  briefly  justified  what 
he  had  done,  and  said  that  he  must  now  go 
through  with  this  conflict,  but  that  he  would 
try  not  to  become  so  involved  again.  Jefferson 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  137 

sent  an  elaborate  argument,  defending  himself 
and  his  party,  and  arraigning  the  policy  and 
the  character  of  the  Federalists.  The  letter  is 
such  an  ample  exposition  of  the  anti-Federalist 
tenets,  such  a  forcible  apologia  of  the  writer, 
that  it  ought  not  to  be  mutilated  by  excerpts ; 
yet  it  is  much  too  long  for  reproduction  here. 

Jefferson  began  by  saying  that  when  he  "em- 
barked in  the  government,  it  was  with  a  deter- 
mination to  intermeddle  not  at  all  with  the 
Legislature,  and  as  little  as  possible  with  my 
co-departments."  For  the  most  part  he  had 
scrupulously  observed  this  wise  resolution, 
though  he  bitterly  recalled  his  share  in  the 
assumption  measure.  Into  this  "  I  was  duped 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  made  a 
tool  for  forwarding  his  schemes,  not  then  suffi- 
ciently understood  by  me ;  and  of  all  the  errors 
of  my  political  life  this  has  occasioned  me  the 
deepest  regret."  He  acknowledged  that  he 
had  "  utterly,  in  his  private  conversations,  dis- 
approved of  the  system  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,"  which  "  flowed  from  principles 
adverse  to  liberty,  and  was  calculated  to  under- 
mine and  demolish  the  republic,  by  creating 
an  influence  of  his  department  over  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Legislature."  He  then  developed 
fully  his  favorite  theory  of  a  "  corrupt  squad- 
ron" in  Congress,  whose  votes  could  always 


138  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

turn  the  scale,  who  were  under  the  command 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  were  by 
him  used  "  for  the  purpose  of  subverting,  step 
by  step,  the  principles  of  the  Constitution, 
which  he  had  so  often  declared  to  be  a  thing 
of  nothing  which  must  be  changed."  He  com- 
plained that  his  own  abstinence  from  interfer- 
ence with  the  Treasury  Department  had  not 
been  reciprocated  by  Hamilton,  who  had  re- 
peatedly intermeddled  in  the  foreign  affairs, 
and  always  in  the  way  of  friendship  to  England 
and  hostility  to  France,  a  policy  "  exactly  the 
reverse  "  of  that  of  Jefferson,  and,  as  Jefferson 
believed,  also  of  that  of  Washington.  He  then 
passed  to  the  attacks  made  by  Hamilton,  as 
"An  American,"  in  Fenno's  "  Gazette."  For 
the  charge  of  disloyalty  to  the  Constitution,  he 
denied  that  he  had  been  more  an  opponent  of 
the  Constitution  than  Hamilton,  and  showed 
that  his  objections  to  it  had  been  vindicated  by 
the  subsequent  adoption  of  amendments  almost 
wholly  coextensive  with  his  criticism  ;  whereas 
Hamilton  had  been  dissatisfied  because  "  it 
wanted  a  king  and  house  of  lords."  Hamilton, 
he  said,  wished  the  national  debt  "  never  to  be 
paid,  but  always  to  be  a  thing  wherewith  to 
corrupt  and  manage  the  Legislature,"  whereas 
he  himself  would  like  to  see  it  "paid  to- 
morrow." Still  harping  on  corruption,  he 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  139 

said :  "  I  have  never  inquired  what  number  of 
sons,  relatives,  and  friends  of  senators,  repre- 
sentatives, printers,  or  other  useful  partisans, 
Colonel  Hamilton  has  provided  for  among  the 
hundred  clerks  of  his  department,  the  thousand 
excisemen  at  his  nod,  and  spread  over  the 
Union ;  nor  could  ever  have  imagined  that  the 
man  who  has  the  shuffling  of  millions  back- 
wards and  forwards  from  paper  into  money,  and 
money  into  paper,  from  Europe  to  America, 
and  America  to  Europe ;  the  dealing  out  of 
treasury  secrets  among  his  friends  in  what  time 
and  measure  he  pleases;  and  who  never  slips 
an  occasion  of  making  friends  with  his  means, 
—  that  such  an  one,  I  say,  would  have  brought 
forward  a  charge  against  me  for  having  ap- 
pointed the  poet  Freneau  a  translating  clerk  to 
my  office,  with  a  salary  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  a  year."  He  tells  the  story  of  the 
starting  of  Freneau's  paper  in  a  way  to  excul- 
pate himself ;  and,  concerning  its  subsequent 
conduct,  says :  "  I  can  protest,  in  the  presence 
of  Heaven,  that  I  never  did,  by  myself  or  any 
other,  say  a  syllable,  nor  attempt  any  kind  of 
influence.  I  can  further  protest,  in  the  same 
awful  Presence,  that  I  never  did,  by  myself  or 
any  other,  directly  or  indirectly,  write,  dictate, 
or  procure  any  one  sentence  or  sentiment  to  be 
inserted  in  his  or  any  other  gazette  to  which 


140  -  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

my  name  was  not  affixed,  or  that  of  my  office." 
He  concluded:  "  When  I  came  into  this  office 
it  was  with  a  resolution  to  retire  from  it  as 
soon  as  I  could  with  decency.  It  pretty  early 
appeared  to  me  that  the  proper  moment  would 
be  the  first  of  those  epochs  at  which  the  Con- 
stitution seems  to  have  contemplated  a  peri- 
odical change  or  renewal  of  the  public  ser- 
vants. ...  I  look  to  that  period  with  the 
longing  of  a  wave-worn  mariner  who  has  at 
length  the  land  in  view,  and  shall  count  the 
days  and  hours  which  still  lie  between  me  and 
it."  But,  he  says,  though  he  has  a  "thorough 
disregard  for  the  honors  and  emoluments  of 
office,"  he  has  a  great  value  "for  the  esteem 
of  his  countrymen ;  and,  conscious  of  having 
merited  it,"  he  "  will  not  suffer  his  retirement 
to  be  clouded  by  the  slanders  of  a  man  whose 
history,  from  the  moment  at  which  history  can 
stoop  to  notice  him,  is  a  tissue  of  machinations 
against  the  liberty  of  the  country  which  has  not 
only  received  and  given  him  bread,  but  heaped 
its  honors  on  his  head."  For  himself,  he  declares 
his  belief,  with  obvious  innuendo,  that  the  peo- 
ple do  not  regard  him  as  "an  enemy  of  the 
republic,  nor  an  intriguer  against  it,  nor  a 
waster  of  its  revenue,  nor  prostitutor  of  it  to 
the  purposes  of  corruption." 

The  letter  is  a  characteristic  and  very  re- 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  141 

markable  document ;  it  deserves  to  have  become 
as  famous  as  a  great  speech,  so  plausible  was  it 
in  defensive  argument,  so  imposing  in  denunci- 
ation, so  bitter  in  personal  invective,  so  skilful 
and  yet  earnest  in  its  interweaving  of  truth 
with  gross  misrepresentations,  so  spirited  at 
once  and  pathetic  in  its  protestations  of  recti- 
tude. It  contained  some  falsehoods,  yet  it 
was  honestly  written.  It  did  not  induce  Wash- 
ington to  abjure  Hamilton,  but  it  proved  to 
him  that  each  side  was  too  much  in  the  right 
to  yield,  and  that  each  had  such  an  honest  con- 
fidence in  the  wickedness  of  the  other,  that 
reconciliation  was  hopeless ;  matters  had  gone 
far  beyond  that  stage  when  Jefferson  had  the 
audacity  to  talk  of  the  moment  when  history 
could  first  stoop  to  notice  his  distinguished 
rival,  and  could  actually  twit  Hamilton  with 
having  had  bread  " given"  to  him  by  the  coun- 
try ! 

Federalist  historians  have  always  lost  their 
tempers  over  this  most  aggravating  epistle,  and 
are  accustomed  to  compare  the  replies  of  the 
two  secretaries  vastly  to  Jefferson's  discredit. 
Hamilton,  they  say,  did  not  malign  his  oppon- 
ent in  private  correspondence  with  their  com- 
mon chief.  But  the  fact  that  Hamilton  did 
not  see  fit  to  write  an  elaborate,  argumentative, 
offensive  and  defensive  letter  does  not  establish 


142  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  fact  that  Jefferson  ought  not  to  have  done 
so.  Neither,  when  writing,  knew  what  course 
the  other  would  pursue  in  this  respect,  so  that 
no  unfair  advantage  was  taken.  It  may  be 
well  suspected  that  the  real  cause  of  the  Fed- 
eralist vexation  is,  that  Hamilton  left  no  cor- 
rective antidote  to  Jefferson's  powerful  docu- 
ment. In  the  long  struggle  between  Hamilton 
and  Jefferson,  the  Hamiltonians  always  inti- 
mated that  Jefferson  was  a  darkling  underhand 
antagonist,  who  would  covertly  traduce  and 
vilify,  and  employ  underlings  to  take  the  re- 
sponsibilities and  encounter  the  perils  which  he 
himself  should  have  assumed.  Thus  they  de- 
pict him  as  a  contemptible  and  cowardly  char- 
acter ;  but,  as  it  seems,  with  a  great  exaggera- 
tion of  the  truth,  if  not  altogether  without  any 
truth.  Hamilton  was  by  his  nature  a  fighter, 
ardent,  defiant,  self-confident,  always  ready  to 
change  blows  with  one  or  with  a  host,  half 
winning  victory  by  his  sanguine  anticipation  of 
it.  Jefferson  on  the  other  hand  was  as  non- 
combatant  as  a  Quaker,  seldom  and  reluctantly 
entering  a  debate  either  in  words  or  in  print. 
But  his  detractors  were  of  opinion  that  if  he 
would  not  make  a  political  speech,  he  ought  not 
to  talk  politics  with  his  friends  after  dinner ;  if 
he  would  not  write  political  articles  for  the 
newspapers,  he  ought  never  to  put  an  expres- 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  143 

sion  of  political  opinion  into  his  correspond- 
ence. They  laid  down  for  him  an  absurd  rule 
which  was  followed  by  no  man  in  those  days,  or 
indeed  in  any  days.  It  does  not  appear  that 
Jefferson  ever  concealed  his  sentiments,  or 
that  he  often  conciliated  any  man  in  public  and 
defamed  him  in  private ;  observing  these  prin- 
ciples, he  had  a  perfect  right  to  declare  his 
beliefs  about  public  men  and  measures,  in  con- 
versation or  in  letter-writing,  to  any  person 
whomsoever. 

So  long  as  the  department  of  national  finances, 
the  liquidation  of  the  national  debt  and  pro- 
vision for  its  payment,  the  establishment  of 
the  bank  and  of  the  mint,  the  arrangement  of 
the  tariff,  and  the  organization  of  taxes  consti- 
tuted the  chief  business  of  the  government,  it 
was  impossible  for  Jefferson  to  encounter  Ham- 
ilton with  any  hope  of  success.  For  even  if 
Hamilton's  financiering  had  been  as  unsound  as 
in  fact  it  was  sound,  Jefferson  was  too  much  of 
a  novice  in  such  matters  to  expose  any  errors. 
In  other  matters,  also,  Hamilton  enjoyed  great 
influence  and  prestige  induced  by  his  admirable 
management  of  his  preeminently  important 
department.  It  was  not  without  reason  that 
Jefferson  complained  that  his  colleague  en- 
croached on  his  functions.  Hamilton  had  the 


144  THOMAS  JEFFERSON: 

mind  of  a  ruler,  and  could  not  help  placing 
himself  substantially  at  the  head  of  the  nation, 
with  a  policy  on  every  subject  and  an  uncon- 
querable habit  of  making  that  policy  felt.  It 
was  not  surprising  that  Jefferson  became  irri- 
tated and  discouraged  ;  for  it  was  evident  that 
he  had  no  reasonable  hope  of  holding  his  own 
unless  the  struggle  could  be  transferred  to  some 
new  field  better  suited  to  his  abilities.  For- 
tunately for  him,  precisely  this  movement  was 
already  going  rapidly  forward.  Just  about  the 
time  when  the  opponents  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  had  become  consolidated  and  trained 
by  the  severe  lessons  of  repeated  disasters,  and 
when  Jefferson's  position  as  their  leader  had 
become  universally  admitted,  questions  of  do- 
mestic policy  began  to  be  superseded  by  the 
foreign  relations  of  the  United  States.  The 
new  problems  soon  took  such  shape  that  Jeffer- 
son and  his  followers  regained  courage.  They 
had  become  an  organized  party  and  had  as- 
sumed a  good  party  name  ;  known  at  first  only 
in  a  negative  way  as  anti-Federalists,  they  had 
seized  upon  the  monarchical  heresy  as  afford- 
ing them  a  better  designation,  and  now  signi- 
fied their  loyalty  to  the  Constitution  by  calling 
themselves  Republicans.  Their  doctrine,  how- 
ever, was  properly  democratic ;  and  very  soon 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE. 


145 


a  portion  of  their  party  described  itself  as  the 
democratic-republicans,  and  then  of  this  double 
phrase  the  less  appropriate  half  was  lopped  off 
and  the  name  of  "  Democrats  "  has  ever  since 
been  permanently  retained. 
10 


CHAPTER  X. 

SECEETAEY  OF  STATE  :   FOREIGN  AFFAIRS. 

IT  was  the  wild  gales  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, whirling  with  hardly  diminished  fury 
across  the  Atlantic,  which  at  last  filled  the 
swelling  sails  of  the  Democrats.  The  story  of 
the  political  excitement  caused  in  the  United 
States  by  that  momentous  upheaval  is  a  tale  so 
much  more  than  twice  told,  that  in  this  small 
volume  it  may  properly  be  treated  with  a  brev- 
ity disproportioned  to  its  great  importance.  In 
its  earlier  stages  the  movement  was  watched 
with  intense  and  unanimous  approbation  by  all 
persons  in  this  country.  But  as  events  went  on 
this  harmony  vanished  ;  men  of  conservative 
temper  and  orderly  instincts  began  to  look  dis- 
trustfully upon  anarchy,  bloodshed,  and  that 
miscalled  equalization  which  was  really  a  turn- 
ing upside  down.  Hamilton  and  the  Federal- 
ists inclined  to  repudiate  a  sister  republic  of 
such  doubtful  aspect,  and  to  consider  French 
republicanism  not  much  more  akin  to  Ameri- 
can republicanism  than  the  faithless  wife  in  a 
French  novel  is  like  the  puritan  matron  of  New 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  147 

England.  Jefferson,  on  the  other  hand,  re- 
mained steadfast  in  his  adhesion  to  the  cause  of 
the  people,  even  the  worst  and  lowest  people, 
in  a  land  which  he  loved  scarcely  less  ardently 
than  his  own.  In  his  letters  from  France  he 
had  vigorously  expressed  his  hearty  abhorrence 
of  the  universal  and  hideous  wretchedness  be- 
gotten of  the  monarchical  system.  It  was  now 
impossible  for  him  to  be  appalled  by  the  most 
destructive  storms  which  promised  to  clear  the 
guilt-laden  atmosphere.  With  him  felt  the  great 
mass  of  the  American  people,  who  maintained 
a  constant  good-will  towards  the  revolutionists, 
even  through  the  massacres  of  September,  and 
applauded  in  turn  Lafayette  and  Danton,  the 
Girondins  who  overthrew  the  old  monarchy, 
and  the  Jacobins  who  overthrew  the  Girondins. 
This  extravagant  ardor  was  early  raised  to 
the  frenzy  point  by  the  French  declaration  of 
war  against  England,  which  country  was  still 
profoundly  hated  by  nine  tenths  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  United  States.  With  mingled  alarm 
and  disgust  Hamilt6n  and  his  party  saw  this 
mighty  wave  of  passion  sweeping  across  the 
land,  nor  were  they  reassured  at  beholding 
prominent  on  the  top  of  this  resistless  surge 
the  Secretary  of  State,  sustained  in  triumph  by 
the  vast  force  of  popular  numbers.  Jefferson, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  naturally  well  content ; 


148  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

he  always  understood  the  dynamics  of  politics, 
and  now  while  Hamilton  marshalled  the  intel- 
ligence and  wealth  of  the  country  into  an  army 
of  political  followers,  unequalled  in  the  quality 
of  its  material  by  any  party  which  has  ever 
existed  in  the  country,  Jefferson  gazed  with  in- 
stinctive confidence  over  the  sea  of  ignorant  but 
countless  faces  upturned  towards  himself.  He 
knew  that  with  dull  numbers  at  his  back  he 
could  in  time  outmatch  the  educated  but  too 
thin  ranks  of  federalism.  He  was  quite  right. 
In  a  much  blinder  way,  because  he  was  intel- 
lectually immeasurably  below  Jefferson,  but 
with  the  same  sure  instinct,  Andrew  Jackson 
afterward  repeated  the  triumphs  of  Jefferson  by 
the  aid  of  the  same  classes  of  the  community. 
So  now  at  last,  after  having  faithfully  endured 
through  the  disconsolate  period  of  domestic 
politics,  the  Republican  leader  seemed  in  a  fair 
way  to  gain  the  upper  hand  when  foreign  poli- 
tics usurped  the  attention  of  every  one.  Had 
it  only  been  a  measured  Gallic  craze  instead  of 
absolute  madness  that  ruled  the  hour,  he  might 
not  have  been  obliged  even  to  abide  the  inter- 
val of  John  Adams'  incumbency,  but  might 
have  been  the  second  President  of  the  United 
States. 

On  April  4, 1793,  news  arrived  in  the  United 
States  that  France  had  proclaimed  war  against 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  149 

England.  Five  days  later  Genet,  the  new 
French  minister,  landed  at  Charleston.  An 
anxious  and  stormy  period  was  opened  for  the 
administration  by  these  two  events.  The  duty, 
which  was  also  the  honest  wish,  of  the  govern- 
ment to  maintain  a  strict  neutrality  was  of  un- 
usual difficulty  for  many  reasons.  (1.)  There 
were  entangling  treaty  obligations  towards 
France,  which  bound  the  United  States  to 
guarantee  her  in  the  maintenance  of  her  West 
Indian  islands  in  any  defensive  war ;  and  nice 
questions  were:  whether  the  war  declared  by 
France  should  be  considered,  as  she  claimed, 
defensive ;  also,  whether  treaties  entered  into 
with  the  royal  government  were  binding  to- 
wards its  successor.  (2.)  Both  combatants  soon 
manifested  a  resolution  to  have  no  neutrals; 
and  each,  committing  outrageous  infractions  of 
neutral  rights,  treated  any  nation  not  taking 
part  with  it  as  being  against  it.  (3.)  Genet 
cherished  and  carried  out,  in  the  most  unscrupu- 
lous and  energetic  way,  the  deliberate  purpose 
of  embroiling  the  United  States  with  Great 
Britain.  (4.)  Very  few  persons  in  the  United 
States  really  had  the  neutral  temper ;  Hamil- 
ton led  an  English  party,  Jefferson  led  a  French 
party,  and  the  passions  which,  in  those  strange 
times,  set  all  Europe  aflame  blazed  with  equal 
fury  in  the  United  States. 


150  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

A  cabinet  meeting  decided,  as  was  inevitable, 
that  a  proclamation  substantially  of  neutrality 
should  be  issued  by  the  President.  Jefferson 
succeeded  in  bringing  about  that  the  word 
"  neutrality  "  should  not  appear  in  it,  so  that 
the  document  might  not  be  avowedly,  and  in 
terms,  what  it  was  in  fact.  He  thought  it  bet- 
ter to  hold  back  the  formal  annunciation  of 
neutrality,  as  a  "  thing  worth  something  to  the 
powers  at  war,  that  they  would  bid  for  it,  and 
we  might  reasonably  ask  a  price,  the  broadest 
privileges  of  neutral  nations."  His  policy,  pos- 
sibly open  to  some  criticism  in  point  of  princi- 
ple, was  imperfectly  adopted.  The  paper,  as  it 
was  finally  issued,  did  not  half  please  him.  To 
his  chagrin,  he  had  not  been  permitted  to  draft 
it,  though  it  fell  naturally  within  his  depart- 
ment, the  more  neutral  temper  of  Attorney- 
General  Randolph  being  deemed  better  fitted 
for  the  task.  In  cabinet  divisions  Knox  always 
gave  his  vote  to  Hamilton ;  Randolph  so  often 
gave  his  to  Jefferson  as  to  provoke  that  secre- 
tary extremely  by  his  unwillingness  always  to 
do  so.  He  seemed  so  near  to  the  character  of 
a  thorough-going  partisan,  that  he  was  more 
hated  for  not  being  entirely  so  than  thanked 
for  the  partial  allegiance  which  he  actually  ren- 
dered. Jefferson  said :  "  He  always  contrives 
to  agree  in  principle  with  me,  but  in  conclu- 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  151 

sion  with  the  other ; "  and  again,  "  The  fact  is, 
that  he  has  generally  given  his  principles  to 
the  one  party,  and  his  practice  to  the  other,  the 
oyster  to  one,  the  shell  to  the  other.  Unfortu- 
nately the  shell  was  generally  the  lot  of  his 
friends,  the  French  and  Republicans,  and  the 
oyster  of  their  antagonists."  Hamilton  thought 
much  worse  than  this  of  Randolph.  But  the 
truth  is  that  the  Attorney-General  was  a  clear- 
headed, dispassionate  adviser,  of  an  excellent 
shrewdness  in  matters  of  international  law, 
and,  as  in  the  present  instance,  much  more 
often  right  than  either  of  the  extremists  be- 
tween whom  he  stood.  The  dissatisfied  Secre- 
tary of  State,  however,  wrote  in  disgust  to 
Madison :  "  I  dare  say  you  will  have  judged 
from  the  pusillanimity  of  the  proclamation 
from  whose  pen  it  came.  A  fear  lest  any  af- 
fection should  be  discovered  is  distinguishable 
enough.  This  base  fear  will  produce  the  very 
evil  they  wish  to  avoid.  For  our  constituents, 
seeing  that  the  government  does  not  express 
their  mind,  perhaps  rather  leans  the  other  way, 
are  coming  forward  to  express  it  themselves." 

This  prophecy  was  true  enough.  Before 
Genet  left  Charleston  he  had  dispatched  priva- 
teers and  issued  officers'  commissions ;  and  the 
very  vessel  in  which  he  arrived  was  taking 
prizes  in  American  waters  before  he  had  been 


152  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

presented  to  the  President.  Yet  in  spite  of 
these  strange  doings,  his  slow  progress  north- 
ward was  made  through  exulting  and  triumph- 
ant crowds,  who  set  no  bounds  to  their  French 
ecstasies.  He  was  received  at  a  civic  banquet 
in  Philadelphia  at  which  the  guests  sang  the 
Marseillaise,  passed  around  the  red  liberty  cap, 
and  hailed  each  other  as  "  citizen."  Jefferson, 
though  wisely  refraining  from  attendance  at 
these  ceremonies,  watched  them  with  perfect 
sympathy,  and  with  sanguine  and  swelling  in- 
dignation against  Hamilton  and  the  British 
party.  Henceforth  to  the  abusive  epithets  of 
"  monarchists  "  and  "  monocrats  "  he  added 
those  of  "  Anglomaniacs  "  and  "  Anglomen," 
as  conveying  at  least  an  equal  measure  of  re- 
proach. He  described  to  Monroe  with  pleas- 
ure, and  without  a  word  of  reprobation,  the 
boisterous  throngs  which  hailed  the  French 
Ambuscade,  when  she  brought  in  as  a  prize 
The  Grange,  captured  in  flagrant  defiance  of 
international  law  actually  inside  the  capes  of 
Delaware.  "  I  wish  we  may  be  able,"  he  said, 
"  to  repress  the  spirit  of  the  people  within  the 
limits  of  a  fair  neutrality.  In  the  mean  time 
Hamilton  is  panic-struck  if  we  refuse  our 
breech  to  every  kick  which  England  may 
choose  to  give  it.  He  is  for  proclaiming  at 
once  the  most  abject  principles,  such  as  would 


BECRETAR7  OF  STATE.  153 

invite  and  merit  habitual  insults ;  and,  indeed, 
every  inch  of  ground  must  be  fought  in  our 
councils  to  desperation,  in  order  to  hold  up 
even  a  sneaking  neutrality ;  for  our  votes  are 
generally  two  and  a  half  against  one  and  a 
half,"  —  another  slap  at  Randolph's  even-mind- 
edness.  He  adds  with  evident  satisfaction  that 
immense  bankruptcies  have  taken  place  in  Eng- 
land, "  the  last  advices  made  them  amount  to 
eleven  millions  sterling  and  still  going  on." 
By  like  remarks  the  antipathy  which  he  enter- 
tained for  the  enemies  of  France  is  constantly 
made  to  appear.  December  15, 1792,  he  writes 
triumphantly  :  "  We  have  just  received  the  glo- 
rious news  of  the  Prussian  army  being  obliged 
to  retreat,  and  hope  it  will  be  followed  by  some 
proper  catastrophe  on  them.  This  news  has 
given  wry  faces  to  our  monocrats  here,  but  sin- 
cere joy  to  the  great  body  of  our  citizens.  It 
arrived  only  in  the  afternoon  of  yesterday,  and 
the  bells  were  rung,  and  some  illuminations 
took  place  in  the  evening."  June  28,  1793,  he 
cheerfully  anticipates  that  the  English  bank- 
ruptcies will  "  proceed  to  the  length  of  an  uni- 
versal crash  of  their  paper."  England,  he  says, 
"is  emitting  assignats  also,  that  is  to  say, 
exchequer  bills  .  .  .  not  founded  on  land  as 
the  French  assignats  are,  but  on  pins,  thread, 
buckles,  hops,  and  whatever  else  you  will  pawn 


154  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

in  the  exchequer  of  double  the  estimated  value. 
But  we  all  know  that  five  millions  of  such  stuff, 
forced  for  sale  on  the  market  of  London  where 
there  will  be  neither  cash  nor  credit,  will  not 
pay  storage.  This  paper  must  rest  then  ulti- 
mately on  the  credit  of  the  nation,  as  the  rest 
of  their  public  paper  does,  and  will  sink  with 
that." 

On  the  other  hand,  no  acts  of  the  French 
shocked  Jefferson's  sensibilities  or  weakened 
his  faith.  December  19,  1792,  he  notes  with 
satisfaction  that  his  party  are  "  taking  to  them- 
selves the  name  of  Jacobins,  which,  two  months 
ago,  was  fixed  upon  them  by  way  of  stigma.'* 
A  few  days  later  he  writes,  concerning  the 
massacres  committed  by  that  infamous  French 
Club,  that  the  "  struggle "  was  "  necessary,'* 
though  in  it  "  many  guilty  persons  fell  without 
the  forms  of  trial,  and  with  them  some  inno- 
cent. These  I  deplore  as  much  as  anybody, 
and  shall  deplore  some  of  them  to  the  day  of 
my  death.  But  I  deplore  them  as  I  should 
have  done  had  they  fallen  in  battle.  It  was 
necessary  to  use  the  arm  of  the  people,  —  a 
machine  not  quite  so  blind  as  balls  and  bombs, 
but  blind  to  a  certain  degree.  .  .  .  My  own 
affections  have  been  deeply  wounded  by  some 
of  the  martyrs  to  this  cause ;  but  rather  than 
it  should  have  failed,  I  would  have  seen  half 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  155 

the  earth  desolated-,  were  there  but  an  Adam 
and  Eve  left  in  every  country,  and  left  free,  it 
would  be  better  than  as  it  now  is ;  "  with  much 
more  of  like  tenor. 

Yet,  amid  all  this  gratification,  he  was 
obliged,  with  unwilling  hand,  to  write  to  the 
French  minister  that  The  Grange  had  been  un- 
lawfully captured  and  must  be  returned ;  also 
he  had  to  check  many  other  enterprises  of  that 
enthusiast,  and  to  demand  much  reparation. 
Still  to  his  credit  it  must  be  said,  that,  however 
distasteful  these  duties  were,  he  performed  them 
all  fairly  enough.  Nevertheless,  it  is  true  that 
he  could  not  bring  himself  to  express  any  posi- 
tive indignation  at  one  of  the  most  lawless  and 
insulting  acts  ever  committed  towards  a  neutral 
nation  ;  and  in  the  many  letters  which  he  was 
obliged  to  write  to  Genet  concerning  the  equip- 
ment, dispatch,  and  subsequent  conduct  of  the 
Franco- American  privateers,  he  invariably  used 
language  as  colorless  as  if  he  had  been  inditing 
a  treatise  on  international  law. 

When  Genet  presented  his  letters  of  cre- 
dence, Jefferson  wrote  to  Madison :  "  It  is  im- 
possible for  anything  to  be  more  affectionate, 
more  magnanimous,  than  the  purport  of  his 
mission.  .  .  .  He  offers  everything  and  asks 
nothing."  But  the  laggard  Virginian  post 
could  hardly  have  brought  this  letter  to  Madi- 


156  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

son's  hands  before  even  its  writer  would  have 
had  to  reverse  the  last-quoted  sentence.  For, 
in  truth,  Genet  very  promptly  made  it  apparent 
that  he  came  to  offer  nothing  and  to  grasp 
everything ;  and  that  his  mission,  instead  of 
being  one  of  unalloyed  affection  and  magnan- 
imity, was  really  to  bring  all  the  resources  of 
the  American  people  to  the  aid  of  France,  and 
to  transmute  the  neutral  ports  of  the  United 
States  into  bases  of  naval  operations  against 
England.  He  had  a  trunk  full  not  only  of 
blank  letters  of  marque  for  privateers  to  be 
unlawfully  equipped  in  our  ports,  but  even 
blank  commissions,  naval  and  military,  for 
American  citizens  who  should  recruit  men  to 
take  part  in  the  war.  Nay,  he  even  dared  to 
set  up  French  admiralty  tribunals  in  this  coun- 
try, actually  conferring  on  the  French  consuls 
the  power  to  try  and  condemn  such  prizes  as 
the  French  privateers  should  capture  and  bring 
in.  Jefferson  was  obliged  to  inform  him  that 
these  doings  were  all  wrong  and  utterly  intol- 
erable. It  was  a  disagreeable  duty,  but  if  the 
Secretary  wrote  his  letters  dispassionately,  he 
at  least  wrote  them  plainly  and  manfully,  and 
contented  himself  with  advancing  on  the  French 
side  in  the  cabinet  such  arguments  upon  other 
issues  as  opportunity  made  possible  from  time 
to  time.  For  example,  a  most  urgent  request 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  157 

was  preferred  by  the  needy  revolutionary  gov- 
ernment of  France  that  the  United  States  would 
pay,  in  anticipation  of  maturity,  the  indebted- 
ness incurred  to  France  during  the  late  war  for 
American  independence.  In  October,  1792,  Jef- 
ferson wrote  to  Gouverneur  Morris,  then  min- 
ister to  France,  that  payment  must  be  tem- 
porarily suspended,  "since  there  is  no  person 
authorized  to  receive  it  and  give  us  an  unob- 
jectionable acquittal."  But  on  June  6,  1793, 
the  republic  being  then  established,  he  advised 
Washington  :  "  I  think  it  very  material  myself 
to  keep  alive  the  friendly  sentiments  of  that 
country  as  far  as  can  be  done,  without  risking 
war  or  double  payment.  If  the  instalments 
falling  due  this  year  can  be  advanced,  without 
incurring  those  dangers,  I  should  be  for  doing 
it." 

For  a  brief  period  now  Jefferson  felt  san- 
guine. He  declared  cheerfully  that  his  senti- 
ments were  "  really  those  of  ninety-nine  in  a 
hundred  of  our  citizens ;  "  that  the  prospects  of 
the  Anglican  party  "  have  certainly  not  bright- 
ened ;  "  that,  except  for  that  "  little  party," 
which  has  sought  a  "  stepping  stone  to  mon- 
archy," "  this  country  is  entirely  republican, 
friends  to  the  Constitution,"  etc.  Yet  even 
amid  these  few  weeks  of  triumph  and  hope  the 
indomitable  temper  of  the  hard-fighting  Secre- 


158  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

tary  of  the  Treasury  harassed  Jefferson  with 
daily  vexations.  May  13,  1793,  he  complains 
bitterly  that  Hamilton  is  encroaching  on  his 
department,  actually  proposing  to  instruct  the 
collectors  of  customs  to  watch  for  infractions  of 
neutrality  by  French  vessels,  and  to  report  them 
secretly  to  him  (Hamilton).  To  deliver  the 
country  from  a  "mere  English  neutrality,"  he  is 
obliged  to  rely  on  the  fact  "  that  the  penchant 
of  the  President  is  not  that  way,  and,  above 
all,  the  ardent  spirit  of  our  constituents." 

But  the  largest  cloud  which  darkened  the 
prospect  was  blown  from  a  quarter  to  which 
Jefferson  had  been  looking  only  for  floods  of 
glorious  sunlight.  From  the  hour  when  Genet 
first  set  foot  in  the  country,  that  restless  emis- 
sary of  discord  allowed  scarcely  a  day  to  glide 
by  without  a  fresh  indiscretion  or  a  new  breach 
of  law.  The  energetic  friendliness  of  the  Sec- 
retary of  State  rapidly  changed  to  anxiety,  and 
soon  anxiety  became  anger.  His  letters  to 
Genet,  at  first  so  significantly  dispassionate, 
came  soon  to  express  genuine  indignation  and 
rebuke.  For  Jefferson  could  not  quite  bring  his 
pacific  nature  to  the  point  of  wishing  to  find 
his  country  committed  to  actual  war,  and  he 
appreciated  with  regret  that  Genet  was  aiming 
at  that  end.  Further,  with  his  unerring  polit- 
ical sagacity,  Jefferson  saw  plainly  that  Genet 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  159 

was  so  recklessly  contemning  the  laws  and  in- 
dependence of  this  country,  that  an  Anglican 
reaction  must  inevitably  soon  set  in.  He  wrote 
to  Monroe  that  Genet's  "conduct  is  indefen- 
sible by  the  most  furious  Jacobin."  When  at 
last  the  blind  arrogance  of  the  excited  French- 
man led  him  to  insult  Washington  with  the 
threat  that  he  himself,  foreigner  as  he  was, 
and  bound  by  diplomatic  courtesies,  would  pub- 
licly appeal  from  the  President  to  the  people, 
actually  saying  that  he  would  only  respect 
the  political  opinions  of  the  President  till  the 
representatives  should  have  confirmed  or  re- 
jected them,  Jefferson's  wrath  at  this  fatal 
blundering  could  no  longer  be  restrained.  He 
denounced  with  asperity  the  unfortunate  fa- 
natic whose  boundless  folly  was  turning  back 
the  republican  party  in  its  rapid  march  towards 
triumph.  He  admitted  that  Genet's  recall  must 
be  demanded,  and  indeed  heartily  longed  to  see 
him  depart ;  he  only  begged  that  the  dis- 
missal might  not  be  personally  insulting  in 
form.  He  wrote  a  letter  to  Morris,  at  Paris, 
reviewing  Genet's  behavior,  from  the  landing 
at  Charleston,  in  language  that  ought  to  have 
been  gratifying  even  to  the  "  Anglornen.''  "  If 
our  citizens,"  he  concluded,  "  have  not  already 
been  shedding  each  other's  blood,  it  is  not  owing 
to  the  moderation  of  Mr.  Genet."  On  the  other 


160  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

hand,  it  should  be  said  that  Genet  afterward 
spoke  very  severely  of  Jefferson,  as  one  who 
had  privately  incited  and  encouraged  him,  and 
afterward  publicly  abandoned  him.  Probably 
Jefferson's  objections  lay  not  so  much  to  the 
political  morality  as  to  the  ill-advised  lack  of 
tact  which  distinguished  the  envoy's  doings. 
Certainly  his  indignation  was  strictly  limited 
to  the  individual  offender,  and  did  not  in  the 
least  affect  his  French  sympathies.  Writing  to 
Madison,  September  1,  1793,  he  spoke  of  "  the 
friendly  nation  "  and  "  the  hostile  one,"  mean- 
ing respectively  France  and  England.  He  was 
even  less  neutral  than  ever  before. 

Throughout  the  harassing  alternations  of 
hope,  irritation,  and  disappointment  which 
filled  up  this  period  of  Genet's  mission,  Jef- 
ferson's conduct  as  a  statesman  was  upon  the 
whole  sound  and  praiseworthy.  He  was  bent 
upon  going  as  far  in  aid  of  France  as  was  pos- 
sible without  falling  into  war  with  England ; 
but  that  danger  line  he  was  honestly  resolved 
not  to  cross.  In  the  cabinet  meetings,  when 
Hamilton  tossed  arguments  into  the  British 
scale,  he  tossed  counter-balancing  arguments 
into  the  French  scale.  The  result  was  a  set 
of  neutrality  rules  which  have  served  as  prece- 
dents for  the  action  of  civilized  nations  ever 
since,  and  of  which  a  large  proportion  were 


SECRETARY    OF  STATE.  161 

asserted  and  justified  in  his  official  letters.  But 
his  consummate  political  tact  is  more  interest- 
ing to  the  student  of  his  character.  This  was 
shown  most  prominently  by  the  way  in  which 
he  first  led  the  French  movement,  and  then 
managed  to  stand  aside  for  a  brief  period,  when 
it  was  no  longer  possible  to  remain  in  front 
without  losing  his  prestige,  and  compromising 
his  right  to  resume  his  leading  position  at  an 
appropriate  moment.  Excited  as  his  frame  of 
mind  was  at  this  time,  still  he  was  too  shrewd 
to  make  a  blunder  in  the  political  game.  Peo- 
ple may  dispute  whether  he  was  on  the  right 
side  or  the  wrong,  but  every  one  must  concede 
his  extraordinary  personal  astuteness.  He  saw 
a  considerable  section  of  his  party,  —  the  lead- 
ing and  conspicuous  section,  — justifying  nearly 
all  Genet's  lawless  and  foolish  acts,  running 
wild  in  democratic  clubs  and  fraternizations, 
wearing  liberty  caps,  and  aping  revolutionary 
slang.  To  eyes  less  sagacious  than  his,  these 
extremists  seemed  to  constitute  the  van  of  the 
party.  But  Jefferson  knew  more  correctly  the 
character  of  such  a  body  and  the  destiny  of  its 
movement.  He  believed  that  they  were  not 
leaders  who  were  going  to  be  followed  and  in 
time  overtaken  by  the  nation ;  and  he  surely 
knew  that  they  were  striking  a  pace  with  which 
the  people  could  not  keep  up,  and  at  which 
11 


162  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

they  themselves  would  inevitably  topple  over. 
But  while  he  recognized  these  facts,  he  did  not 
proclaim  them  ;  nor  did  he  make  a  futile  effort 
to  check  the  headlong  rush.  He  had  no  notion 
of  being  run  over  by  his  own  troops,  or  of  mak- 
ing himself  unpopular  by  displaying  an  un- 
timely sagacity.  Though  he  regretted  to  see 
a  disaster  precipitated,  he  well  knew  that  its 
mischief  would  not  exceed  a  temporary  delay. 
When  the  disaster  came,  his  precaution  pre- 
vented it  from  involving  him.  As  its  effect 
passed  over,  the  great  mass  of  his  party,  remem- 
bering that  he  had  not  lost  his  head,  trusted 
him  more  implicitly  than  ever ;  while  the  reck- 
less members  were  obliged  to  respect  his  supe- 
rior shrewdness,  and  felt  grateful  to  him  for 
having  spared  them  public  rebukes.  He  had 
pursued  his  usual  and  moderate  course ;  he  had 
shunned  the  easy  mistake  of  cherishing  dissen- 
sions or  jealousies  in  his  party ;  he  had  made 
no  enemies ;  and  especially  he  had  shown  that 
rare  power  of  accurately  appreciating  the  true, 
'safe,  and  permanent  volume  of  a  popular  move- 
ment which  distinguishes  him  above  all  the 
statesmen  of  his  generation. 

But  in  spite  of  the  strength  of  the  French 
party  among  the  people  at  large,  and  in  spite 
of  his  own  prudence,  Jefferson's  official  position 
in  the  cabinet  remained  very  unpleasant.  A 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  163 

man  of  his  temper  could  find  little  comfort  in 
unceasing  antagonism  with  such  a  hard-hitting, 
untiring  combatant  as  Hamilton.  His  occa- 
sional victories,  far  too  few  to  satisfy  him,  were 
conquered  by  such  incessant  and  desperate  con- 
flict as  was  most  wearing  and  odious  to  him. 
From  such  a  life  he  longed  to  escape,  and  few 
men  have  sought  so  earnestly  to  get  into  office 
as  he  sought  to  get  out  of  it.  So  early  as 
March  18,  1792,  he  writes  to  Short  of  an  in- 
tention, which  he  describes  as  having  been  al- 
ready expressed,  to  retire  at  the  end  of  Wash- 
ington's first  term.  September  9,  1792,  in  the 
famous  anti-Hamilton  letter  to  Washington,  he 
repeats  the  remark,  saying,  "  I  look  to  that  pe- 
riod with  the  longing  of  a  wave-worn  mariner, 
who  has  at  length  the  land  in  view,  and  shall 
count  the  days  and  hours  which  still  lie  be- 
tween me  and  it."  He  spoke  more  honestly 
than  officials  often  do  who  hold  such  language, 
and  it  was  with  real  reluctance  that  he  con- 
sented to  remain  beyond  this  established  bound. 
He  was  resolved,  however,  to  make  the  delay 
as  short  as  possible,  and  on  July  31,  1793,  he 
wrote  to  Washington  that  "  the  close  of  the 
present  quarter  seems  to  be  a  convenient  pe- 
riod." But  Washington's  importunity  almost 
took  away  his  liberty  of  action,  and  absolutely 
compelled  him  to  stay  till  the  end  of  the  year. 


164  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Then  at  last  he  escaped,  and  set  out  for  Monti- 
cello  with  the  joy  of  one  freed  from  prison. 

Of  course  nothing  which  Jefferson  could  do 
at  this  juncture  could  escape  censure.  He  was 
even  blamed  now  for  getting  out  of  office  as  he 
had  long  been  blamed  for  remaining  in  it.  The 
same  people  who  had  been  stigmatizing  him  as 
the  chief  of  an  opposition  within  the  adminis- 
tration, obstinately  retaining  governmental  of- 
fice for  the  express  purpose  of  thwarting  the 
administration  policy,  now  said  that  he  ought 
not  to  have  resigned  until  Hamilton  also  should 
find  it  convenient  to  resign.  They  declared 
that  Washington  was  embarrassed  by  the  ne- 
cessity for  rebuilding  his  cabinet  piece-meal ; 
that  Hamilton  still  had  some  matters  in  his  de- 
partment to  be  completed,  and  Jefferson  should 
have  stayed  till  these  were  finished;  that  then 
the  two  rivals  could  properly  go  out  together. 
Both  charges  were  wholly  unjust.  Washing- 
ton, fully  cognizant  of  the  condition  of  affairs 
in  his  cabinet,  had  exerted  all  the  pressure 
which  he  decently  could  to  retain  Jefferson  in 
office,  which,  indeed,  apart  from  this  considera- 
tion, Jefferson  was  not  required  to  abandon  by 
any  obligation  not  equally  binding  upon  Ham- 
ilton ;  for  it  was  a  fair  struggle  between  the 
two.  Nor  was  it  better  than  ridiculous  to  ex- 
pect Jefferson  to  withhold  his  own  resignation 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  165 

for  an  indefinite  period  out  of  complaisance  for 
the  convenience  of  his  chief  personal  and  polit- 
ical enemy.  How  did  he  know  that  Hamilton 
would  resign  at  all  ?  He  was  not  in  Hamilton's 
confidence,  and  did  not  trust  him,  nor  did  he 
deem  it  desirable  that  Hamilton  should  remain 
in  office  at  all.  It  was  absurd  to  expect  him  to 
promote  such  remaining.  If  his  own  resigna- 
tion put  a  pressure  on  Hamilton  also  to  resign, 
it  seemed  so  much  the  better.  In  a  word,  Jef- 
ferson's behavior  was  thoroughly  proper,  and 
the  two  charges  brought  against  him  by  his 
accusers  were  so  inconsistent  with  each  other 
as  to  be  mutually  destructive. 


CHAPTER  XL 

IN   RETREAT. 

AT  home  on  his  plantations  Jefferson  was 
supremely  happy.  "  The  principles,"  he  said, 
uon  which  I  calculated  the  value  of  life  are 
entirely  in  favor  of  my  present  course.  I  re- 
turn to  farming  with  an  ardor  which  I  scarcely 
knew  in  my  youth,  and  which  has  got  the  bet- 
ter entirely  of  my  love  of  study."  He  puts  off 
answering  his  letters,  "  farmer-like,  till  a  rainy 
day."  He  does  not  "  take  a  single  newspaper, 
nor  read  one  a  month,"  and  he  finds  himself 
"  infinitely  the  happier  for  it."  He  indulges 
himself  "  on  one  political  topic  only,  that  is,  in 
declaring  to  my  countrymen  the  shameless  cor- 
ruption of  a  portion  of  the  representatives  to 
the  first  and  second  Congresses,  and  their  im- 
plicit devotion  to  the  Treasury." 

But  even  without  newspapers  the  farmer 
managed  to  keep  his  knowledge  and  his  inter- 
est fresh  in  all  matters  of  foreign  and  domestic 
politics.  He  saw  with  regret  his  "  countrymen 
groaning  under  the  insults  of  Great  Britain." 
He  hoped  that  the  triumphs  of  the  French 


IN  RETREAT.  167 

armies  would  "  kindle  the  wrath  of  the  people 
of  Europe  against  those  who  have  dared  to  em- 
broil them  in  such  wickedness,  and  would  bring 
at  length  kings,  nobles,  and  priests  to  the  scaf- 
folds which  they  have  been  so  long  deluging 
with  human  blood.  I  am  still  warm  whenever 
I  think  of  these  scoundrels,  though  I  do  it  as 
seldom  as  I  can,  preferring  infinitely  to  con- 
template the  tranquil  growth  of  my  lucerne  and 
potatoes."  He  hopes  that  "some  means  will 
turn  up  of  reconciling  our  faith  and  honor  with 
peace  "  with  England ;  and  he  is  "  in  love  "  with 
the  "  proposition  of  cutting  off  all  communica- 
tion with  the  nation  which  has  conducted  itself 
so  atrociously."  When  the  Non-Importation 
Bill  was  lost  in  the  Senate,  he  testily  wrote  that 
the  senatorial  "  body  was  intended  as  a  check  on 
the  will  of  the  representatives  when  too  hasty. 
They  are  not  only  that,  but  completely  so  on 
that  of  the  people  also  ;  and  in  my  opinion  are 
heaping  coals  of  fire,  not  only  on  their  persons, 
but  on  their  body  as  a  branch  of  the  Legisla- 
ture." 

He  had  left  behind  him  a  famous  report  on 
commerce  which  was  bitterly  fought  over  in. 
Congress,  Madison  and  Giles  backing  it  against 
the  united  force  of  the  Federalists  and  the  mer- 
cantile interest.  It  sought  to  encourage  trade 
with  France  and  to  curtail  the  established  busi- 


168  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ness  relations  with  England.  Jefferson's  theory 
was  that  business  should  not  be  controlled  by 
sentiment ;  but  he  firmly  believed  that  the  true 
commercial  interests  of  the  country  could  be  bet- 
ter aided  by  a  French  than  by  an  English  com- 
merce. His  arguments  were  very  plausible,  but 
did  not  suffice  to  induce  our  merchants  to  un- 
dergo the  labor  and  risk  of  deserting  familiar 
channels  in  search  of  new  ones.  The  resolu- 
tions based  on  the  report  only  served  as  the 
field  for  a  long  and  obstinate  battle  between 
the  Gallic  and  the  Anglican  factions. 

Jefferson  was  greatly  vexed  at  the  "  denunci- 
ation "  of  those  democratic  societies  which  had 
been  recently  instituted  here  in  imitation  of  the 
Jacobin  Club,  and  declared  this  persecution  to 
be  "  one  of  the  extraordinary  acts  of  boldness 
of  which  we  have  seen  so  many  from  the  faction 
of  monocrats."  When  Washington,  reluctantly 
yielding  to  strong  pressure,  included  in  his  mes- 
sage an  unfavorable  reference  to  these  organiza- 
tions, Jefferson  thought  it  "  wonderful,  indeed, 
that  the  President  should  have  permitted  him- 
self to  be  the  organ  of  such  an  attack  on  the 
freedom  of  discussion,  the  freedom  of  writing, 
printing,  and  publishing."  He  was  watching 
Washington's  course  with  profound  anxiety  and 
some  jealous  distrust.  For  he  thought  that  the 
President  was  losing  his  judicial  impartiality, 


IN  RETREAT.  169 

and  changing  from  the  head  of  the  nation  to 
the  head  of  a  party.  He  lamented  this  pros- 
pect, and  seriously  feared  that  the  time  might 
come  when  Washington's  "honesty  and  his  po- 
litical errors "  might  give  the  people  a  second 
occasion  to  exclaim  "  curse  on  his  virtues !  they 
have  undone  his  country." 

The  "  whiskey  insurrection  "  in  Western 
Pennsylvania  very  nearly  commanded  actual 
sympathy  from  Jefferson.  .He  writes  to  Madi- 
son, December  28,  1794,  that  he  is  unable  to 
see  that  the  transactions  "  have  been  anything 
more  than  riotous.  There  was,  indeed,  a  meet- 
ing to  consult  about  a  separation.  But  to  con- 
sult on  a  question  does  not  amount  to  a  deter- 
mination of  that  question  in  the  affirmative, 
still  less  to  the  acting  on  such  a  determination." 
"  But,"  he  continues,  "  we  shall  see,  I  suppose, 
what  the  court  lawyers,  and  courtly  judges 
and  would-be  ambassadors  will  make  of  it.  The 
excise  law  is  an  infernal  one.  The  first  error 
was  to  admit  it  by  the  Constitution ;  the  sec- 
ond, to  act  on  that  admission ;  the  third  and 
last  will  be,  to  make  it  the  instrument  of  dis- 
membering the  Union,  and  setting  us  all  afloat 
to  determine  what  part  of  it  we  will  adhere 
to." 

It  was  inevitable  that  Jay's  treaty  should 
seem  to  Jefferson  absolutely  odious  ;  and  in  the 


170  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

storm  which  it  launched  across  the  country,  and 
which  threatened  for  a  time  to  bring  even  Wash- 
ington's administration  into  grave  jeopardy,  Jef- 
ferson was  among  the  most  irreconcilable  of  the 
malcontents.  At  first  a  "  slight  notice  "  of  it 
was  sufficient  "  to  decide  [his]  mind  against 
it."  As  the  discussion  grew  heated,  and  the 
result  seemed  so  important  and  so  doubtful 
that  Hamilton,  in  the  armor  of  "  Curtius  "  and 
"  Camillus,"  came  down  into  the  lists,  Jefferson 
became  greatly  agitated.  He  beheld  with  dis- 
may the  "  only  middling  performances  "  of  the 
writers  on  his  side,  and  implored  Madison  to 
take  part.  "  Hamilton,"  he  said,  "  is  really  a 
Colossus  to  the  anti-republican  party ;  without 
numbers  he  is  an  host  within  himself.  They 
have  got  themselves  into  a  defile,  where  they 
might  be  finished ;  but  too  much  security  will 
give  time  to  his  talents  and  indefatigable- 
ness  to  extricate  them.  ...  In  truth,  when  he 
comes  forward,  there  is  nobody  but  yourself 
can  meet  him.  .  .  .  For  God's  sake  take  up 
your  pen,  and  give  a  fundamental  reply  to 
Curtius  and  Camillus."  True  to  his  reluctance 
to  become  personally  involved  in  such  conflicts, 
he  seems  never  to  have  contemplated  the  possi- 
bility of  taking  his  own  pen  in  hand. 

The    "execrable   thing,"   as   he    called  the 
treaty,  was  at  last  ratified,  under  the  influence 


IN  RETREAT.  171 

of  Washington's  discovery  of  Randolph's  per- 
fidy. But  an  equally  fierce  and  much  more 
dangerous  crisis  was  created  by  the  effort  of 
its  opponents  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
to  obtain  the  diplomatic  papers  concerning  it, 
and  to  obstruct  its  fulfilment  by  refusing  the 
necessary  legislation.  Here  again  Jefferson 
went  heartily  to  the  extreme  length  upon 
which  his  party  ventured.  He  was  led  into 
some  inconsistencies;  but  the  excitement  was 
so  great  and  the  political  opportunity  so  prom- 
ising, that  no  party  leader  could  have  been 
expected  to  respect  the  trammels  of  dispas- 
sionate opinions  on  merely  cognate  questions 
of  principle  given  by  him  at  cabinet  consulta- 
tions in  quieter  times.  Yet  the  ultimate  tri- 
umph of  the  Federalists  in  these  treaty  disputes 
left  Jefferson  cheerful  under  defeat.  "  It  has 
been  to  them,"  he  said,  ua  dear-bought  vic- 
tory ;  it  has  given  the  most  radical  shock  to 
their  party  which  it  has  ever  received."  It 
leaves  them  so  "  that  nothing  can  support  them 
but  the  Colossus  of  the  President's  merits  with 
the  people  ;  and  the  moment  he  retires,  his  suc- 
cessor, if  a  monocrat,  will  be  overborne  by  the 
republican  sense  of  his  constituents;  if  a  Re- 
publican, he  will  of  course  give  fair  play  to 
that  sense,  and  lead  things  into  the  channel  of 
harmony  between  the  governors  and  governed. 
In  the  mean  time,  patience." 


172  THOMAS  JEFFERSON: 

The  prospect  of  Republicanism  was  brighten- 
ing when  this  shrewd  judge  could  contemplate 
the  possibility  of  Washington  being  succeeded 
by  a  professor  of  that  faith.  Such,  indeed,  was 
the  state  of  feeling  in  the  nation  at  large,  and 
so  much  were  the  sympathy  with  France  and 
the  aversion  toward  England  stimulated  by 
hatred  of  the  treaty,  that  a  Republican  victory 
would  have  been  less  wonderful  than  many 
things  which  happen  in  popular  politics.  The 
Federal  party  had  been  forcing  many  unpopular 
measures,  and  making  many  enemies.  It  was 
visibly  losing  ground ;  but  it  did  not  lose  quite 
fast  enough  to  give  the  Republicans  control  of 
the  next  election.  Jefferson  must  have  "  pa- 
tience "  yet  a  little  longer. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

VICE-PRESIDENT. 

IT  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  at  the  time 
of  the  third  presidential  election,  1,  the  electors 
were  still  permitted  to  exercise  some  individual 
discretion  and  independence ;  2,  the  votes  for 
President  and  Vice-President  were  not  sepa- 
rately cast,  but  the  person  receiving  the  highest 
number  of  votes  was  President,  and  the  person 
receiving  the  next  highest  number  was  Vice- 
President.  In  spite  of  the  hopes  of  Jefferson 
and  the  fears  of  Adams,  the  Federalists  were 
abundantly  able  to  control  the  choice  of  both 
officers.  But  the  lack  of  harmony  in  their 
councils  created  a  danger  which  they  under- 
valued and  failed  properly  to  guard  against. 
Upon  the  whole,  Adams  deserved  to  win  in 
the  competition  which  existed  within  his  own 
party;  and  after  some  discussion  it  became 
generally  understood  that  he  should  be  re- 
garded as  the  Federalist  candidate  for  the 
first  place,  and  that  Thomas  Pinckney  should 
have  the  second  position.  But  the  Federalist 
party  was  preeminently  a  party  of  leaders,  and 


174  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

could  easily  have  furnished  at  least  a  dozen 
men,  each  abundantly  fit  for  the  presidency. 
Among  so  many  Adams  was  not  so  palpably 
and  undeniably  first  that  all  had  to  admit  his 
claim  ;  on  the  contrary,  many  questioned  it  and 
many  were  personally  his  enemies.  In  this  con- 
dition of  fueling,  his  followers  became  naturally 
but  unfortunately  suspicious  that  one  or  more 
of  the  Federalist  votes  might  be  diverted  from 
him  by  machinations  of  Hamilton,  or  that  some 
southern  Republican,  more  attached  to  his  sec- 
tion than  to  his  party,  might  vote  for  Pinckney. 
In  either  contingency  Adams  might,  of  course, 
have  been  only  Vice-President.  The  Republi- 
cans, on  the  other  hand,  had  no  such  difficulties; 
Jefferson  was  their  unquestioned  leader ;  Madi- 
son was  greatly  his  inferior  in  the  science  of 
practical  politics,  and  Clinton,  Burr,  Monroe, 
and  Gallatin  were  all  second-rate  men.  So  the 
Republicans  went  into  the  colleges  thoroughly 
united,  while  the  Federalists,  distrusting  each 
other,  sought  not  only  a  party  but  a  partisan 
success.  Some  of  the  Adams  men,  to  defend 
him  against  the  suspected  hostility  and  schemes 
of  Pinckney's  friends,  threw  away  their  second 
votes.  The  result  was  that  Jefferson  came  in 
ahead  of  Pinckney,  and  was  even  within  four 
votes  of  beating  Adams  himself.1  Thus  by  in- 

1  Adams  received  71  votes,  Jefferson  68,  Pinckuey  59,  Burr 
30 ;  the  rest  were  scattering. 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  175 

excusable  bad  faith  and  bad  management  the 
Federalists  lost  the  second  place  and  gravely 
imperilled  the  first.  Jefferson  would  have 
permitted  no  such  bungling  in  a  party  led  by 
him. 

December  17, 1796,  Jefferson  wrote  to  Madi- 
son :  "  The  first  wish  of  my  heart  was,  that  you 
should  have  been  proposed  for  the  administra- 
tion of  the  government.  On  your  declining  it, 
I  wish  anybody  rather  than  myself ;  and  there 
is  nothing  I  so  anxiously  hope,  as  that  my  name 
may  come  out  either  second  or  third."  Ten 
days  later  he  wrote  to  Rutledge  :  "  My  name, 
however,  was  again  brought  forward  without 
concert  or  expectation  on  my  part;  (on  my 
salvation  I  declare  it.)  ...  I  protest  before 
my  God  that  I  shall  from  the  bottom  of  my 
heart  rejoice  at  escaping.  ...  I  have  no  ambi- 
tion to  govern  men ;  no  passion  which  would 
lead  me  to  delight  to  ride  in  a  storm.  .  .  .  My 
attachment  is  to  my  home,"  etc.,  etc.  January 
1,  1797,  he  told  Madison  :  "  No  motive  could 
have  induced  me  to  undertake  the  first  [office.] 
.  .  .  The  second  is  the  only  office  in  the  world 
about  which  I  cannot  decide  in  my  own  mind, 
whether  I  had  rather  have  it  or  not  have  it." 
Undoubtedly  in  these  passages  the  "  lady  doth 
protest  too  much  ;  "  but  Jefferson  only  behaved 
as  nine  men  out  of  ten,  in  like  situations,  always 


176  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

have  behaved  and  always  will  behave.  He  dep- 
recated the  idea  that  he  coveted  anything  so 
much  as  the  lot  of  living  quietly  at  home  ;  but 
he  took  all  he  could  get  once,  twice,  and  thrice, 
and  spent  twelve  years  at  the  national  capital 
without  any  determined  efforts  to  escape. 

While  he  played  the  great  game  of  the  Re- 
publicans with  consummate  skill  and  in  the  best 
of  spirits,  Jefferson  never  neglected  those  little 
affectations  which  win  the  confidence  of  shal- 
low lookers-on.  He  now  took  pains  to  arrange 
that  no  special  messenger  should  be  sent  to 
notify  him  of  his  election,  but  that  the  simple, 
inexpensive,  eminently  republican  means  of  the 
post-office  should  be  employed.  Concerning 
the  inauguration  he  said :  "  I  hope  I  shall  be 
made  a  part  of  no  ceremony  whatever.  I  shall 
escape  into  the  city  as  covertly  as  possible.  If 
Governor  Mifflin  should  show  any  symptoms  of 
ceremony,  pray  contrive  to  parry  them."  He 
succeeded  in  carrying  out  this  plan  of  slipping 
as  it  were  unobserved  into  office ;  and  Adams, 
who  had  quite  the  contrary  taste,  absorbed  the 
popular  attention. 

Jefferson  came  to  the  vice-presidency  in  a 
cheerful  and  sanguine  temper.  He  saw  plainly 
that  Hamilton  was  no  longer  to  hold  supreme 
control  over  a  united  party,  and  Hamilton  was 
the  only  man  among  the  Federalists  whom  he 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  177 

really  feared.  Neither  was  he  sorry  to  have 
Washington  also  out  of  the  way,  for  he  had 
long  regarded  Washington  as  a  Federalist,  mod- 
erate, patriotic,  and  honest  indeed,  but  vastly 
more  dangerous  than  better  partisans,  because 
of  his  overshadowing  influence.  June  17,  1797, 
he  acknowledged  in  a  letter  to  Burr  that  he 
had  "  always  hoped  that,  the  popularity  of  the 
late  President  being  once  withdrawn  from  act- 
ive effect,  the  natural  feelings  of  the  people 
towards  liberty  would  restore  •  the  equilibrium 
between  the  executive  and  legislative  depart- 
ments, which  had  been  destroyed  by  the  supe- 
rior weight  and  effect  of  that  popularity."  For 
a  few  weeks  now  he  even  ventured  to  contem- 
plate the  possibility  of  harmonious  relations 
between  Mr.  Adams  and  himself,  which  signi- 
fied, of  course,  that  by  his  astuteness  he  would 
achieve  an  influence  over  the  blunt,  impetuous, 
and  egotistical  •  President,  As  the  best  intro- 
duction to  this  friendliness,  he  had  quickly 
formed  the  clever  design  of  making  hatred  of 
Hamilton  a  bond  of  union  between  Adams  and 
himself,  and  he  promptly  set  about  strengthen- 
ing in  Adams'  jealous  and  suspicious  nature  a 
sentiment  which  would  put  the  hot-headed 
New  Englander  quite  within  his  control.  On 
December  28, 1796,  he  wrote  to  Adams :  "  It  is 
possible,  indeed,  that  even  you  may  be  cheated 

12 


178  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

of  your  succession  by  a  trick  worthy  the  sub- 
tlety of  your  arch  friend  of  New  York,  who 
has  been  able  to  make  of  your  real  friends  tools 
for  defeating  their  and  your  just  wishes."  From 
this  time  until  they  met  he  studiously  made  the 
most  cordial  professions,  and  cast  abroad  suave 
and  pleasant  remarks  like  decoys  to  the  very 
uncertain  old  bird  whom  he  was  hopeful  to 
lure.  For  a  day  or  two  after  his  arrival  at  the 
seat  of  government  his  anticipations  seemed 
correct.  He  came  to  Philadelphia  on  March  2, 
"and  called  instantly  on  Mr.  Adams.  .  .  .  The 
next  morning  he  returned  my  visit.  .  .  .  He 
found  me  alone  in  my  rooms,  and  shutting  the 
door  himself,  he  said  he  was  glad  to  find  me 
alone,  for  that  he  wished  a  free  conversation 
with  me."  The  "  free  conversation "  must 
have  been  most  grateful ;  for  the  President  ex- 
pressed his  wish  to  avoid  the  imminent  rupture 
with  France,  and  to  send  an  "  immediate  mis- 
sion to  the  Directory."  Nay,  it  was  even  "  the 
first  wish  of  his  heart "  to  make  Jefferson  the 
envoy;  but  since  both  agreed  that  this  was 
impossible,  Adams  suggested  that  Gerry  and 
Madison,  Republicans  both,  should  be  joined 
with  Pinckney  as  commissioners.  Such  for- 
tune was  too  good  to  last.  Three  days  later 
Jefferson  walked  home  with  Adams  from  a  din- 
ner party  at  General  Washington's  house,  and 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  179 

was  obliged  to  say  that  Madison's  refusal  was 
positive.  Thereupon  Mr.  Adams  "  immedi- 
ately said  that,  on  consultation,  some  objec- 
tions to  that  nomination  had  been  raised  which 
he  had  not  contemplated ;  and  was  going  on 
with  excuses  which  evidently  embarrassed  him, 
when  .  .  .  our  road  separated,  ...  and  we 
took  leave ;  and  he  never  after  that  said  one 
word  to  me  on  the  subject,  or  ever  consulted 
me  as  to  any  measures  of  the  government." 
Thus,  after  sucli  fleeting  courtesies,  the  Presi- 
dent and  Vice-President  fell  permanently  asun- 
der ;  and  somewhat  later  we  find  Jefferson 
wholly  uninformed  concerning  most  interesting 
items  of  foreign  diplomatic  proceedings.  In 
fact,  Adams  came  not  bringing  peace,  but  a 
sword  ;  and  the  animosities  of  parties  and  of 
individuals  have  never  been  fiercer  in  this 
country  than  they  were  during  his  administra- 
tion. 

Very  soon  it  seemed  as  though  a  real  sword 
would  be  drawn  in  what  the  Republicans 
deemed  an  unholy,  if  not  quite  a  fratricidal, 
conflict  with  France.  The  Directory,  crazed 
with  Napoleon's  victories,  were  finding  causes 
of  war  against  all  mankind.  A  rumor  had  even 
gained  currency  that  the  failure  to  elect  Jeffer- 
son President  would  be  construed  as  the  suffi- 
cient inducement  for  hostilities  against  the 


180  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

United  States.  The  question  no  longer  was 
whether  this  country  should  be  driven  into  de- 
claring war,  but  whether  France  would  begin  it. 
She  professed  to  consider  the  recent  treaty  with 
England  as  a  breach  of  treaties  previously  made 
with  herself.  When  Pinckney  arrived  to  suc- 
ceed Monroe  as  minister,  she  insolently  turned 
him  away;  she  issued  most  extraordinary  de- 
crees against  American  commerce,  and  com- 
mitted intolerable  depredations  upon  American 
shipping  ;  her  Directory  dismissed  Monroe  with 
compliments  to  himself  so  framed  as  to  be  also 
insults  to  the  government  which  had  recalled 
him,  and  declared  that  no  successor  would  be 
received  until  the  United  States  should  have 
made  a  satisfactory  redress  of  grievances, 
though  what  grievances  had  occurred  was  un- 
known. Such  exasperating  items  of  news, 
coming  in  rapid  succession,  fired  the  hot  tem- 
per of  Mr.  Adams,  disgusted  moderate  citizens, 
and  of  course  strengthened  the  party  hostile  to 
France.  An  extra  session  of  Congress  was  con- 
vened in  May,  and  was  advised  by  the  Presi- 
dent to  create  a  navy,  to  fortify  harbors,  and 
generally  to  prepare  for  defensive  war.  The 
Vice-President's  party,  on  the  other  hand,  be- 
came anxious  and  despondent.  Things  seemed 
to  be  going  against  them.  Jefferson  noted  that 
"  the  changes  in  the  late  election  have  been 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  181 

unfavorable  to  the  Republican  interest ; "  and 
though  "  peace  was  the  universal  wish,"  yet  he 
was  fearful  that  Congress  might  u  now  raise 
their  tone  to  that  of  the  Executive,  and  embark 
in  all  the  measures  indicative  of  war,  and,  by 
taking  a  threatening  posture,  provoke  hostili- 
ties from  the  opposite  party."  "  War, "  he 
said,  "is  not  the  best  engine  for  us  to  resort 
to.  Nature  has  given  us  one  in  our  commerce, 
which,  if  properly  managed,  will  be  a  better  in- 
strument for  obliging  the  interested  nations  of 
Europe  to  treat  us  with  justice."  He  was  in 
favor  of  an  embargo.  Further,  he  thought  that 
the  warlike  cry  was  "  raised  by  a  faction  com- 
posed of  English  subjects  residing  among  us, 
or  such  as  are  English  in  all  their  relations  and 
sentiments."  By  June  17  he  noted  with  pleas- 
ure that  "  Bonaparte's  victories  and  those  on 
the  Rhine,  the  Austrian  peace,  British  bank- 
ruptcy, mutiny  of  the  seamen,1  and  Mr.  King's 
exhortations  to  pacific  measures,"  had  alarmed 
people  into  more  submissive  sentiments. 

Adams,  though  naturally  combative,  justly 
felt  it  his  duty  to  keep  the  peace  if  possible. 
Accordingly,  while  France  still  lingered  in  the 
stage  of  threats  and  outrages,  he  appointed 
Gerry  and  Marshall  to  join  Pinckney  in  Paris 
as  envoys  extraordinary.  Jefferson  earnestly 
1  The  famous  mutiny  at  the  Nore. 


182  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

implored  Gerry  to  go.  He  wrote :  "  Peace  is 
undoubtedly  at  present  the  first  object  of  our 
nation.  Interest  and  honor  are  also  national 
considerations.  But  interest,  duly  weighed,  is 
in  favor  of  peace  even  at  the  expense  of  spolia- 
tions past  and  future  ;  and  honor  cannot  now 
be  an  object.  The  insults  and  injuries  commit- 
ted on  us  by  both  the  belligerent  parties,  from 
the  beginning  of  1793  to  this  day,  and  still  con- 
tinuing, cannot  now  be  wiped  off  by  engaging 
in  war  with  one  of  them."  Nor  is  his  old  fear 
of  the  monarchists  banished  ;  "  be  assured,"  he 
says,  "  that  if  we  engage  in  a  war  during  our 
present  passions  and  our  present  weakness  in 
some  quarters,  our  Union  runs  the  greatest  risk 
of  not  coming  out  of  that  war  in  the  same 
shape  in  which  it  enters  it.  My  reliance  for 
our  preservation  is  on  your  acceptance  of  this 
mission."  Under  such  pressure  Gerry  accepted, 
but  in  an  evil  hour  for  himself. 

Jefferson  has  left  a  gloomy  picture  of  the 
times.  The  "  present  passions,"  he  says,  were 
such  that  political  opponents  could  no  longer 
"separate  the  business  of  the  state  from  that 
of  society,"  and  "  speak  to  each  other."  "  Men 
who  have  been  intimate  all  their  lives  cross  the 
street  to  avoid  meeting,  and  turn  their  heads 
another  way  lest  they  should  be  obliged  to 
touch  their  hats."  All  this,  he  says,  is  "  afflict- 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  183 

ing"  to  him,  since  "  tranquillity  is  the  old  man's 
milk."  Certainly  it  did  not  advance  his  tran- 
quillity that,  in  this  summer  of  1797,  his  famous 
letter  to  Mazzei  found  its  way  before  the  pub- 
lic. This  had  been  written  April  24,  1796,  to 
his  old  friend  and  neighbor  in  Virginia,  the 
Italian  Mazzei,  then  in  Europe ;  had  been 
translated  "  from  English  into  Italian,  from 
Italian  into  French,  and  from  French  into  Eng- 
lish." In  its  original  form  its  important  para- 
graph was  as  follows  :  — 

"The  aspect  of  our  politics  has  wonderfully  changed 
since  you  left  us.  In  place  of  that  noble  love  of  lib- 
erty and  republican  government  which  carried  us  tri- 
umphantly through  the  war,  an  Anglican  monarchical 
aristocratical  party  has  sprung  up,  whose  avowed  ob- 
ject is  to  draw  over  us  the  substance,  as  they  have 
already  done  the  forms,  of  the  British  government. 
The  main  body  of  our  citizens,  however,  remain  true 
to  their  republican  principles;  the  whole  landed  inter- 
est is  republican,  and  so  is  a  great  mass  of  talents. 
Against  us  are  the  Executive,  the  Judiciary,  two  out 
of  three  branches  of  the  Legislature,  all  the  officers 
of  the  government,  all  who  want  to  be  officers,  all 
timid  men  who  prefer  the  calm  of  despotism  to  the 
boisterous  sea  of  liberty,  British  merchants,  and 
Americans  trading  on  British  capitals,  speculators 
and  holders  in  the  banks  and  public  funds,  a  con- 
trivance invented  for  the  purpose  of  corruption,  and 
for  assimilating  us  in  all  things  to  the  rotten  as  well 


184  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

as  the  sound  parts  of  the  British  model.  It  would 
give  you  a  fever  were  I  to  name  to  you  the  apostates 
who  have  gone  over  to  these  heresies,  men  who  were 
Samsons  in  the  field  and  Solomons  in  the  council,  but 
who  have  had  their  heads  shorn  by  the  harlot,  Eng- 
land. In  short,  we  are  likely  to  preserve  the  liberty 
we  have  obtained,  only  by  unremitting  labors  and 
perils.  But  we  shall  preserve  it ;  and  our  mass  of 
weight  and  wealth  on  the  good  side  is  so  great  as  to 
leave  no  danger  that  force  will  ever  be  attempted 
against  us.  We  have  only  to  awake  and  snap  the 
Lilliputian  cords  with  which  they  have  been  entan- 
gling us  during  the  first  sleep  which  succeeded  our 
labors." 

In  the  shape  in  which  this  letter  at  last  came 
into  print  in  the  United  States,  the  "  general 
substance,"  as  Jefferson  admitted,  remained  his, 
and  only  one  mistake  was  worth  correction. 
The  Federalists  at  once  raised  a  howl  of  indig- 
nation. Washington  had  been  traduced,  they 
said,  falsely,  basely,  perfidiously,  by  an  appar- 
ent friend.  Unquestionably  there  was  a  dis- 
agreeable aspect  about  the  matter,  which  it 
would  have  been  pleasant  to  be  able  to  remove, 
but  presumably  there  were  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  a  thorough  removal ;  at  least  Jefferson 
wisely  refrained  from  entangling  explanations.1 

1  See  his  letter  to  Madison  of  August  3,  1797;  Works 
(Cong,  ed.),  iv.  193. 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  185 

Many  years  afterward  he  alleged l  that  his 
strictures  were  not  aimed  at  Washington,  bat 
at  the  other  members  of  the  Cincinnati;  and 
that  Washington  himself  could  not  have  mis- 
construed the  letter.  But  Federalist  historians 
have  taken  these  tardy  glosses  no  more  kindly 
than  the  party  at  the  time  took  the  letter. 
Afterward  a  story  was  circulated,  that  Wash- 
ington, with  much  severity,  called  Jefferson  to 
account,  that  Jefferson  humbly  apologized  or 
explained,  but  that  the  correspondence  and  a 
volume  of  Washington's  "  Diary  "  had  disap- 
peared, presumably  through  the  aid  of  the  pri- 
vate secretary,  Lear,  with  whom  Jefferson  was 
on  a  footing  of  friendship,  which  in  this  con- 
nection seemed  suspicious.  All  this  Jefferson 
vigorously  denied,  and  even  such  a  partisan  as 
Mr.  Hildi-eth  admits  that  "the  evidence  of  the 
story  is  wholly  insufficient."  Federalists  then, 
however,  and  Federalist  writers  ever  since,  have 
strenuously  asserted  that  Jefferson  forfeited 
Washington's  confidence,  as  if  this  fact,  if  true, 
would  involve  a  like  withdrawal  of  confidence 
by  every  one  else.  It  has  always  seemed  to 
the  thorough  Federalist  that  to  question  the 
perfect  wisdom  of  Washington  in  matters  po- 

1  See  his  letter  to  Van  Buren  of  June  29,  1824  (Works 
(Cong,  ed.),  vii.  362),  which  contains  Jefferson's  side  of  this 
famous  controversy,  very  carefully  and  fully  stated. 


186  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

litical  was  a  sort  of  secular  profanity,  and  of 
this  crime  Jefferson  was  on  some  few  occasions 
guilty.  Yet  in  the  main  Jefferson  undoubtedly 
had  a  sincere  and  honest  reverence  for  Wash- 
ington's character,  and  was  not  hypocritical  in 
treating  him  with  respect  and  regard.  Though 
at  times  he  deplored  to  his  friends  the  use  and 
effect  of  the  President's  influence,  and  though, 
also,  he  probably  underrated  Washington's  in- 
tellectual ability,  yet  in  his  strictly  personal 
behavior  and  relations  towards  Washington  he 
compares  very  favorably  even  with  the  Feder- 
alist John  Adams  ;  neither  did  he  leave  behind 
him  any  opinions  concerning  Washington's  men- 
tal powers  nearly  so  derogatory  as  those  which 
Timothy  Pickering,  most  stalwart  of  Federal- 
ists, has  bequeathed  in  his  manuscripts.  He 
was  further  very  bitterly  reproached  for  not 
controlling  or  ostracizing  certain  notorious  Re- 
publican writers,  who  assailed  Washington  with 
such  a  coarse  and  brutal  atrocity  as  recalls  the 
worst  days  of  Grub  Street.  It  was  unfortunate 
that  he  did  not  use  his  influence  to  restrain 
these  men,  or  that  he  did  not  venture  to  visit 
them  with  his  personal  disfavor.  It  may  be 
fairly  questioned  how  far  the  head  of  a  party 
can  be  held  responsible  for  the  tail ;  but  Amer- 
icans always  have  thought,  and  always  will 
think,  that  the  case  of  Washington  was  peculiar 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  187 

and  deserved  a  rule  for  itself.  It  was  unpar- 
donable to  permit  such  gross  libels  as  were  ut- 
tered concerning  him,  if  they  could  be  stopped ; 
this  has  been  the  sober  judgment  of  posterity 
no  less  than  of  all  dispassionate  contempora- 
ries ;  and  it  has  always  been  believed  that 
Jefferson  could  have  safely  and  efficiently  ex- 
ercised such  a  restraining  authority.  In  his  ex- 
culpation it  can  only  be  said  that  he  was  never 
coercive  in  handling  his  followers,  and  that  his 
policy  was  to  allow  the  extreme  of  freedom  in 
abuse  as  well  as  in  more  commendable  matters. 
He  himself  often  endured  malignant  and  false 
assaults  in  silence.  Nevertheless  the  American 
people  have  never  forgiven  him  for  standing 
by  with  apparent  unconcern  while  Washington 
was  writhing  under  the  villainous  calumnies  of 
the  Republican  news-wiiters.  At  the  time  the 
opportunity  to  represent  that  Jefferson  was  ha- 
bitually backbiting  Washington,  that  he  was 
at  last  detected  flagrante  delieto,  and  that  there 
was  consequent  alienation  between  the  two,  was 
a  useful  weapon  vigorously  used  by  the  Feder- 
alists with,  perhaps,  as  much  honesty  as  is  con- 
sidered necessary  in  political  controversy. 

Meantime  the  envoys,  Pinckney,  Marshall, 
and  Gerry,  were  very  ill  received  in  Paris,  or 
rather  were  not  diplomatically  received  at  all. 
The  Directory  refused  to  treat  until  their  mys- 


188  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

terious  grievances  should  have  been  redressed, 
and  apologies  made  for  offensive  language  in 
Mr.  Adams'  speech  to  Congress.  The  unfortu- 
nate trio,  indignant,  harassed,  and  despairing, 
were  already  contemplating  an  ignominious  re- 
turn from  a  bootless  errand,  when  they  were 
surprised  by  a  visit  from  certain  private  emis- 
saries of  Talleyrand.  In  a  series  of  interviews 
these  go-betweens  proposed  that  the  United 
States  should  make  a  public  loan  to  the  Direc- 
tory, and  pay  a  handsome  bribe  into  the  hands 
of  Talleyrand,  whereupon  injuries  and  excuses 
might  be  praetermitted,  and  negotiations  would 
advance  prosperously.  Much  talk  was  wasted 
on  this  shameless  proposition  which,  fortunately, 
came  to  nothing.  Then  at  last  Marshall  and 
Pinckney  withdrew  in  disgust.  Gerry  fool- 
ishly, though  not  altogether  without  some  spe- 
cious excuse,  suffered  himself  to  be  persuaded 
into  remaining  for  a  while  alone  ;  an  action 
upon  his  part,  which  was  doubtless  honestly  in- 
tended, but  which  was  at  best  of  questionable 
propriety,  and  which  subjected  him  to  fierce  de- 
nunciation  from  the  Federalists,  who  declared 
that  he  was  either  the  dupe  or  the  willing  tool 
of  the  Directory. 

In  March,  1798,  the  President,  in  a  state  of 
great  irritation,  announced  to  Congress  and  to 
the  country  the  failure  of  the  mission.  The 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  189 

excitement  was  intense.  The  Federalists  hur- 
ried forward  with  motions  for  defensive  prep- 
arations, and  for  strengthening  and  organizing 
the  army  and  the  navy  ;  they  no  longer  admit- 
ted a  possibility  of  avoiding  war.  The  Repub- 
licans were  greatly  disturbed,  but  maintained 
a  stout  opposition,  not  absolutely  devoid  of  ef- 
fect ;  they  resembled  a  brake  grating  upon 
wheels  which  may  be  impeded,  but  cannot  be 
stayed.  Very  soon,  however,  the  wheels  seemed 
to  free  themselves  from  all  check.  For  in  re- 
sponse to  a  demand  upon  the  President  for  the 
correspondence  of  the  envoys,  the  whole  dis- 
graceful story  of  the  proceedings  at  Paris  was 
made  public.  Only  in  place  of  the  real  names 
of  the  go-betweens  there  were  substituted  the 
letters  X,  Y,  Z,  which  thereafterward  gave  a 
name  to  the  whole  affair.  The  country  burst 
into  furious  indignation.  The  President,  losing 
his  head  as  usual  when  the  hot  blood  surged  to- 
wards his  brain,  made  his  famous  and  foolish 
assertion  that  no  minister  should  again  be  sent 
to  France  without  previous  assurance  that  he 
should  be  received  as  the  envoy  of  a  "great, 
free,  independent,  and  powerful  people."  The 
Federalists  in  Congress  pushed  through  one 
vigorous  war  measure  after  another ;  the  mass 
of  the  people,  who  oscillate  in  the  middle  space 
between  the  decided  partisans,  now  went  over 


190  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

in  full  force  to  the  Federal  side ;  the  Republi- 
cans were  discomfited  and  almost  despairing ; 
some  held  their  peace  in  temporary  despair  and 
confusion,  while  a  few  kept  up  the  fight,  in  the 
desperate  temper  of  the  Spartans  at  Thermo- 
pylae. Scarcely  any  one  of  either  party  dared 
to  doubt  that  war  was  close  at  hand. 

Amid  all  this  turmoil,  madness,  and  Repub- 
lican demoralization,  Jefferson  displa}red  a  cool- 
ness and  ability  quite  rare  and  admirable. 
Like  others  of  his  way  of  thinking,  he  received 
at  first  a  painful  shock  from  the  X  Y  Z  de- 
velopments, but  rallied  with  superb  courage 
and  promptness.  The  occurrence  proved  to 
him  that  Talleyrand  was  a  rascal,  but  not  that 
alienation  was  either  necessary  or  proper  be- 
tween France  and  the  United  States.  For  Jef- 
ferson's political  faith  was  a  profound,  immuta- 
ble conviction,  not  to  be  overthrown  by  isolated 
miscarriages  however  unfortunate.  His  eternal 
confidence  in  the  cause  of  freedom  and  of  the 
people  was  never  shaken  by  the  blunders  of 
honest  but  wrong-headed  colleagues,  such  as 
Genet  had  been,  nor  by  the  crimes  or  treachery 
of  base  individuals  like  Talleyrand  and  the  Di- 
rectory. He  did  not  lose  belief  in  principles  be- 
cause their  prominent  advocates  now  and  again 
lacked  wisdom  or  integrity.  His  abiding  con- 
stancy proves  that  he  was  not  a  hypocrite,  time- 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  191 

server,  and  demagogue,  but  a  thorough  and  sin- 
cere believer  in  the  political  doctrines  which  he 
publicly  professed.  In  matters  of  detail  he  was 
politic,  not  always  ingenuous,  not  rigidly  truth- 
ful, not  altogether  incapable  of  subterfuge  and 
even  of  meanness.  But  he  never  in  any  stress 
deserted,  or  even  temporarily  disavowed,  his 
main  principles.  He  never  lost  faith  or  cour- 
age. Democrats  might  commit  follies,  errors, 
and  crimes,  but  he  stood  steadfastly  by  democ- 
racy. He  did  not  trim  his  sail  to  every  flaw 
on  the  political  ocean,  but  awaited  through  the 
longest  unpromising  days,  with  a  noble  patience, 
the  powerful  and  steady  gale  which  he  was  con- 
vinced would  in  time  carry  the  nation  upon  the 
true  course.  For  though  a  master  of  political 
craft  he  was  not  merely  a  politician  ;  he  was  a 
great  statesman,  with  broad  views  and  grand 
purposes,  whether  sound  or  not.  Periods  like 
that  through  which  he  was  now  passing  proved 
these  facts.  While  narrower  intellectual  visions 
were  filled  by  the  ugly  panel  of  the  panorama 
directly  before  them,  Jefferson  said:  this  will 
soon  glide  into  the  limbo  of  past  scenes,  and 
must  not  alone  fasten  a  character  upon  the 
whole  spectacle ;  the  odiousness  of  this  special 
display  is  no  reason  for  condemning  the  entire 
show,  which,  as  a  whole,  is  noble  and  improv- 
ing. So  all  his  efforts  were  aimed  at  gaining 


192  THOMAS 

time,  and  he  urged  a  relentless  opposition  to  all 
measures  in  the  way  of  warlike  preparation. 

Events  justified  Jefferson's  policy ;  yet  for  the 
time  there  seemed  so  little  likelihood  of  such 
a  result  that  it  is  difficult  to  say  that  he  was 
right  in  opposing  all  precautionary  measures. 
The  result  did  not  come  about  in  the  way  that 
he  expected.  Nor  were  his  hopes  of  an  agree- 
able kind  ;  for  he  anticipated  that  a  series  of 
French  victories  would  soon  so  discourage  the 
people  that  they  would  prefer  to  submit  to  un- 
just French  demands  rather  than  to  encounter 
invincible  French  troops.  In  fact  the  escape 
came  not  in  this  humiliating  shape,  but  through 
the  different  and  surprising  channel  of  concili- 
atory advances  on  the  part  of  France  and  an 
extraordinary  response  from  Mr.  Adams.  Tal- 
leyrand, confounded  by  the  publication  of  his 
knavery,  but  too  wise  to  fall  into  a  rage,  which 
would  have  been  substantially  a  plea  of  guilty, 
declared  that  the  whole  X  Y  Z  episode  had 
been  a  huge  mistake.  Soon  he  further  inti- 
mated to  Vans  Murray,  the  American  minister 
at  the  Hague,  that  France  desired  to  reopen 
negotiations  on  a  friendly  footing.  The  whole 
story  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  United  States,  but  as  it  is  also  one 
of  the  most  familiar,  there  can  be  no  excuse  for 
appropriating  any  of  our  limited  space  to  its 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  193 

repetition.  The  result  was,  as  every  one  knows, 
that  Mr.  Adams,  of  his  own  motion,  dispatched 
a  new  embassy  to  France,  succeeded  in  making 
a  treaty  and  avoiding  a  war,  and  by  his  cour- 
age, independence,  and  obstinacy  conferred  upon 
the  United  States  as  great  a  good  as  the  coun- 
try has  ever  received  at  the  hands  of  a  Presi- 
dent. At  the  same  time  he  split  the  already 
inharmonious  Federal  party  into  two  hostile  di- 
visions, which  for  the  future  hated  each  other 
with  that  peculiar  virulence  which  marks  a  fam- 
ily feud. 

During  Mr.  Adams'  administration  the  Fed- 
eralists, besides  falling  into  many  foolish  quar- 
rels and  blunders,  were  guilty  of  one  real  polit- 
ical crime.  This  was  the  passage,  amid  the 
French  excitement,  of  the  Alien  and  Sedition 
acts,  statutes  probably  contrary  to  the  letter 
and  certainly  grossly  discordant  with  the  spirit 
of  the  Constitution.  Under  the  extreme  prov- 
ocation thus  given,  Jefferson's  wonted  coolness 
and  sagacity  deserted  him,  and  he  concocted  a 
Republican  antidote  far  worse  than  the  Federal- 
ist poison.  He  drew  the  wicked  "  Kentucky  res- 
olutions." Intending  them  as  a  protest  against 
unconstitutional  enactments,  he  far  outran  the 
constitutional  limits  of  the  most  vigorous  pro- 
test, and  wrote  a  document  which  was  simply 
revolutionary.  Even  the  reckless  frontier  Legis- 
13 


194  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

lature  administered  a  severe  blood-letting  to  it 
before  they  would  pass  it.  Yet  even  in  its 
modified  form  it  remained  a  foundation  and 
sufficient  precedent  and  authority  for  all  the 
subsequent  secession  doctrines  of  the  Eastern 
States,  for  the  nullification  proceedings -of  South 
Carolina,  almost,  if  not  quite,  for  the  rebellion 
of  1861.  Reacting  against  extreme  oppression, 
Jefferson  fell  into  the  abyss  of  what  has  since 
been  regarded  as  treason.  The  misfortune  is 
attributable  to  his  theorizing  argumentative 
habit  of  laying  down  abstract  doctrines  of 
right  and  wrong  in  matters  of  government.  In 
his  defence  it  can  only  be  said  that  nullifica- 
tion and  secession  appeared  less  heinous  in  his 
day  than  in  later  times.  Even  Madison  soon 
afterward  drew  the  Virginia  resolutions,  only  a 
little  less  objectionable  than  the  work  of  Jeffer- 
son. It  is  indicative  of  the  light  in  which  such 
doctrines  were  then  regarded,  that  these  pro- 
ceedings did  not  seriously  injure  either  their 
authors  or  the  party  which  adopted  them. 

Yet  when  it  was  the  other  party  that  found 
threats  of  secession  convenient,  Jefferson  was 
fully  sensible  of  the  folly  of  such  schemes.  In 
June,  1798,  he  wrote  :  — 

"  If  on  a  temporary  superiority  of  one  of  the 
parties  the  other  is  to  resort  to  a  scission  of  the 
union,  no  federal  government  can  ever  exist.  If  to 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  195 

rid  ourselves  of  the  present  rule  of  Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut,  we  break  the  Union,  will  the  evil 
stop  there  ?  Suppose  the  New  England  States  alone 
cut  off,  will  our  nature  be  changed  ?  Are  we  not 
men  still  to  the  south  of  that,  and  with  all  the  pas- 
sions of  men  ?  Immediately  we  shall  see  a  Penn- 
sylvania and  a  Virginia  party  arise  in  the  residuary 
confederacy,  and  the  public  mind  will  be  distracted 
with  the  same  party  spirit.  What  a  game,  too,  will 
the  one  party  have  in  their  hands  by  eternally  threat- 
ening the  other  that  unless  they  do  so  and  so  they 
will  immediately  join  their  northern  neighbors.  If 
we  reduce  our  Union  to  Virginia  and  North  Carolina, 
immediately  the  conflict  will  be  established  between 
the  representatives  of  these  two  States,  and  they  will 
end  by  breaking  into  their  simple  units." 

In  other  words,  secession  was  a  medicine 
which  only  one  physician  could  be  allowed  to 
prescribe. 

In  March,  1800,  both  parties  were  already 
eagerly  forecasting  the  chances  of  the  autum- 
nal elections.  Jefferson  wrote  :  "  The  Federal- 
ists begin  to  be  very  seriously  alarmed  about 
their  election  next  fall.  Their  speeches  in* 
private,  as  well  as  their  public  and  private 
demeanor  to  me,  indicate  it  strongly."  After 
a  careful  discussion  of  the  chances  in  the  doubt- 
ful States,  he  cautiously  declared  his  own  con- 
clusion :  "  Upon  the  whole  I  consider  it  as 
rather  more  doubtful  than  the  last  election,  in 


196  THOMAS  JEFFERSON'. 

which  I  was  not  deceived  in  more  than  a  vote 
or  two ; "  but  he  allows  it  to  be  plainly  read 
between  the  lines  that,  though  stopping  short 
of  actually  predicting  a  Republican  success,  he 
is  really  very  sanguine  of  it.  He  had  abundant 
ground  for  stronger  hopes  than  he  expressed. 

The  Federalists  threw  aside  all  scruples  in 
conducting  their  campaign.  A  sample  of  the 
abuse  and  falsehood  in  which  they  dealt  may  be 
seen  in  one  of  the  stories  which  they  circulated 
concerning  Jefferson,  charging  that  "  he  had  ob- 
tained his  property  by  fraud  and  robbery ; 
that  in  one  instance  he  had  defrauded  and 
robbed  a  widow  and  fatherless  children  of  an 
estate  to  which  he  was  executor,  of  ten  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling,  by  keeping  the  property 
and  paying  them  in  money  at  the  nominal  rate, 
when  it  was  worth  no  more  than  forty  to  one." 
The  facts  were  stated  by  Jefferson  to  one  of  his 
friends  as  follows :  — 

"  I  never  was  executor  but  in  two  instances,  both 
of  which  having  taken  place  about  the  beginning  of 
£he  Revolution,  which  withdrew  me  immediately  from 
all  private  pursuits,  I  never  meddled  in  either  exec- 
utorship.  In  one  of  the  cases  only  were  there  a 
widow  and  children.  She  was  my  sister.  She  re- 
tained and  managed  the  estate  in  her  own  hands,  and 
no  part  of  it  was  ever  in  mine.  In  the  other  I  was  a 
copartner  and  only  received  on  a  division  the  equal 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  197 

portion  allotted  me.  .  .  .  Again,  my  property  is  all 
patrimonial,  except  about  seven  or  eight  hundred 
pounds'  worth  of  lands,  purchased  by  myself  and 
paid  for,  not  to  widows  and  orphans,  but  to  the  very 
gentleman  from  whom  I  purchased." 

These  denials,  he  said,  he  would  vouchsafe 
to  his  friend,  but  added,  "  I  only  pray  that  my 
letter  may  not  go  out  of  your  hands,  lest  it 
should  get  into  the  newspapers,  a  bear-garden 
scene  into  which  I  have  made  it  a  point  to  enter 
on  no  provocation."  He  was  probably  the  bet- 
ter able  to  keep  this  wise  resolution,  because  he 
shrewdly  appreciated  that  the  rancor  and  per- 
sonal malignity  of  his  opponents  were  a  sure 
indication  of  their  sense  of  weakness  and  of 
coming  defeat.  The  party  which  indulges  most 
freely  in  false  personal  vituperation  almost  in- 
variably finds  itself  beaten  at  the  polls. 

This  result  grew  steadily  more  certain  as  the 
election  drew  nearer.  The  Federalists  were  dis- 
heartened and  fore-doomed  by  the  internal  dis- 
sensions which  split  their  party  into  factions 
more  hostile  and  jealous  towards  each  other 
than  towards  the  common  foe.  The  schism 
which  Adams  had  opened  could  not  be  closed, 
and  inevitable  destruction  awaited  a  house  so 
divided  against  itself.  Defeat  was  further  in- 
sured by  the  admirable  condition  of  the  Repub- 
lican party.  It  seems  probable  that  for  some 


198  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

time  before  the  autumn  of  1800,  a  fair  polling 
of  the  people  would  have  shown  many  more 
voters  of  Republican  than  of  Federalist  procliv- 
ities. It  had  been  the  ability  and  individual 
force  of  the  Federalist  leaders  which  had  enabled 
them  to  maintain  the  party  supremacy  so  long. 
But  at  last  the  Republicans  had  become  thor- 
oughly consolidated,  and  now,  cheered  by  the 
spectacle  presented  by  their  discordant  adver- 
saries, they  were  united,  enthusiastic,  and  con- 
fident. It  had  taken  time  for  discipline  and 
organization  to  become  perfectly  established 
throughout  their  masses,  more  especially  be- 
cause the  labor  had  fallen  almost  exclusively 
upon  one  man.  For  Jefferson  had  been  obliged 
to  assume  the  task  with  very  little  assistance. 
Burr  alone,  in  New  York,  had  proved  a  really 
able  political  lieutenant.  At  last,  however,  by 
tactics  and  policy  intangible  and  indescribable 
but  wonderfully  efficient,  the  immense  multi- 
tudes which  constituted  the  Republican  raw 
material  had  been  moulded  into  an  irresistible 
array,  and  he  who  had  done  this  feat  still  justly 
enjoys  the  reputation  of  being  the  ablest  polit- 
ical leader  who  has  ever  lived  in  this  country. 
The  secret  of  Jefferson's  control  of  the  igno- 
rant populace  was  undoubtedly  his  honest  faith 
in  them ;  they  instinctively  felt  that  his  pro- 
fession of  belief  in  the  lower  two  thirds  of  the 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  199 

community  was  genuine  ;  in  return  they  gave 
gratitude  and  confidence,  and  for  years  patiently 
submitted  to  the  drill,  which  he  conducted  with 
admirable  temper  and  untiring  perseverance. 
Thus  he  had  now  at  length  made  them  an  in- 
vincible body,  accomplishing  in  politics  with 
the  voters  of  the  United  States  very  much  the 
same  thing  that  Napoleon  was  doing  in  military 
matters  with  the  untutored  militia  of  France, 
inspiring  them  with  the  irresistible  spirit  of  vic- 
tory. 

This  comparative  condition  of  the  two  par- 
ties was  so  well  understood  that  no  intelligent 
observer  was  surprised  at  the  result  of  the  elec- 
tions. There  had  been  some  talk  of  the  old 
manoeuvre  of  withdrawing  a  few  Federalist  votes 
from  Adams  in  order  to  bring  in  Charles  C. 
Pinckney  ahead  of  him ;  but  the  leaders  became 
aware  of  the  peril  of  their  situation  in  time  to 
shun  this  folly.  There  had  also  been  some 
danger  that  a  few  Republican  votes  might  be 
thrown  away,  in  order  to  prevent  the  occur- 
rence of  a  tie  between  the  two  Republican 
candidates.  On  December  15  Jefferson  wrote : 
"  Decency  required  that  I  should  be  so  entirely 
passive  during  the  late  contest,  that  I  never 
once  asked  whether  arrangements  had  been 
made  to  prevent  so  many  from  dropping  votes 
intentionally  as  might  frustrate  half  the  Re- 


200  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

publican  wish  ;  nor  did  I  doubt,  till  lately,  that 
such  had  been  made."  In  spite  of  this  protes- 
tation, it  is  altogether  incredible  that  a  party 
led  by  Jefferson  would  ever  have  been  permit- 
ted to  lapse  into  so  unpardonable  a  blunder  as 
that  which  had  made  him  Vice-President,  es- 
pecially after  the  palpable  warning  of  that  oc- 
currence. In  fact,  when  the  time  came  neither 
party  wasted  any  strength,  and  the  votes  of  the 
electoral  colleges  showed  for  Jefferson  73  votes, 
for  Burr  73,  for  Adams  65,  for  C.  C.  Pinckney 
64,  for  Jay  1.  The  equality  between  Jefferson 
and  Burr  of  course  cast  the  election  into  the 
House  of  Representatives. 

A  period  of  extreme  anxiety  had  now  to  be 
endured,  scarcely  more  by  Jefferson  than  by  the 
whole  people  of  the  United  States.  For  the  po- 
litical composition  of  the  House  was  such  that 
the  Republicans  could  not  control  the  choice, 
and  the  Federalists,  though  of  course  still  more 
unable  to  do  so,  yet  had  the  power  by  holding 
steadily  together  to  prevent  any  election  what- 
soever. Momentous  as  such  a  political  crime 
would  he,  nevertheless  many  influential  Fed- 
eralists soon  showed  themselves  sufficiently 
embittered  and  vindictive  to  contemplate  it. 
"  Several  of  the  high-flying  Federalists,"  wrote 
Jefferson,  December  15,  1800,  "  have  expressed 
their  determination  ...  to  prevent  a  choice  by 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  201 

the  House  of  Representatives  .  .  .  and  let  the 
government  devolve  on  a  President  of  the  Sen- 
ate." This  threat  naturally  produced  "  great 
dismay  and  gloom  on  the  Republican  gentlemen 
here,  and  exultation  in  the  Federalists,  who 
openly  declare  they  .  .  .  will  name  a  President 
of  the  Senate  pro  tern,  by  what  they  say  would 
only  be  a  stretch  of  the  Constitution."  Some 
Federalists  asserted  that  even  anarchy  was  pref- 
erable to  the  success  of  Jefferson.  December 
81,  Jefferson  wrote  :  "  We  do  not  see  what  is  to 
be  the  end  of  the  present  difficulty.  The  Fed- 
eralists .  .  .  propose  to  prevent  an  election  in 
Congress,  and  to  transfer  the  government  by 
an  act  to  the  Chief  Justice  [Jay]  or  Secretary 
of  State  [Marshall],  or  to  let  it  devolve  on  the 
Secretary  pro  tern,  of  the  Senate  till  next  De- 
cember, which  gives  them  another  year's  pre- 
dominance and  the  chances  of  future  events. 
The  Republicans  propose  to  press  forward  to 
an  election.  If  they  fail  in  this,  a  concert  be- 
tween the  two  higher  candidates  may  prevent 
the  dissolution  of  the  government  and  danger 
of  anarchy,  by  an  operation  bungling  indeed 
and  imperfect,  but  better  than  letting  the  Leg- 
islature take  the  nomination  of  the  Executive 
entirely  from  the  people."  This  "operation  " 
was  explained,  after  the  crisis  had  passed,  as 
follows :  "  I  have  been  above  all  things  solaced 


202  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

by  the  prospect  which  opened  on  us  in  the  event 
of  a  non-election  of  a  President,  in  which  case 
the  federal  government  would  have  been  in 
the  situation  of  a  clock  or  watch  run  down. 
There  was  no  idea  of  force,  nor  of  any  occa- 
sion for  it.  A  convention,  invited  by  the  Repub- 
lican members  of  Congress,  with  the  virtual 
President  and  Vice-President,  would  have  been 
on  the  ground  in  eight  weeks,  would  have  re- 
paired the  Constitution  where  it  was  defective, 
and  wound  it  up  again."  It  was  easy  for  Jef- 
ferson to  write  thus  tranquilly  and  to  settle  a 
terrible  jeopardy  by  an  obvious  simile,  after  the 
substantial  peril  had  passed  away  and  he  had 
been  occupying  the  presidential  chair  for  up- 
wards of  a  fortnight.  But  it  was  most  fortu- 
nate for  the  country  that  he  and  his  friends 
were  not  driven  to  this  "  peaceable  and  legiti- 
mate resource  ;  "  they  would  hardly  have  suc- 
ceeded in  such  an  extra-constitutional  process 
of  national  watch-winding  in  the  teeth  of  the 
daring  and  vindictive  men  who  led  the  power- 
ful Federal  minority.  Still  worse  would  it  have 
been  for  the  existence  of  the  infant  nation  if 
force  had  been  resorted  to,  of  which  there  was 
some  threatening  talk  if  the  scheme  of  making 
Jay  or  Marshall  President  should  be  seriously 
undertaken.  "If  they  could  have  been  per- 
mitted," wrote  Jefferson,  "  to  pass  a  law  for 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  203 

putting  the  government  into  the  hands  of  an 
officer,  they  would  certainly  have  prevented  an 
election.  But  we  thought  it  best  to  declare 
openly  and  firmly,  once  for  all,  that  the  day 
such  an  act  passed,  the  Middle  States  would 
arm,  and  that  no  such  usurpation,  even  for  a 
single  day,  should  be  submitted  to.  This  first 
shook  them  ;  and  they  were  completely  alarmed 
at  the  resource  for  which  we  declared,  to  wit,  a 
convention  to  reorganize  the  government  and  to 
amend  it.  The  very  word  4  convention  '  gives 
them  the  horrors."  These  letters  present  an 
example  of  the  contradictions  into  which  Jef- 
ferson was  constantly  led  by  his  unconquerable 
passion  for  construing  facts  to  suit  his  purpose 
or  feelings  of  the  moment.  If  it  was  so  seri- 
ously threatened  that  "  the  Middle  States  would 
arm,"  that  the  Federalists  were  overawed  by 
the  threat,  he  was  not  justified  in  complacently 
saying  that  there  was  "  no  idea  of  force  nor  of 
any  occasion  for  it."  It  was  his  disingenuous 
way  of  making  any  allegation  which  would  re- 
dound to  the  credit  of  his  party  and  his  polit- 
ical creed. 

Perhaps  through  a  fear  of  some  of  the  con- 
sequences above  indicated,  or  perhaps  by  reason 
of  a  revival  of  good  sense  and  patriotic  feeling 
among  the  Federalist  leaders,  the  more  extrava- 
gant plans  were  gradually  superseded  by  a  proj- 


204  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ect  marked  by  nothing  worse  than  petty  mal- 
ice. Before  the  voting  in  the  House  was  begun, 
the  Federalists  had  determined  to  rest  content 
with  the  personal  defeat  of  Jefferson.  Though 
the  electors  could  not  designate  which  of  the 
two  persons  for  whom  they  voted  they  intended 
for  President  and  which  for  Vice -President, 
yet  it  was  perfectly  well  known  that  the  whole 
Republican  party  had  been  of  one  mind  in  de- 
signing the  first  place  for  Jefferson.  Indeed, 
for  this  position  Burr  would  have  been  by  no 
means  even  their  second  choice;  it  was  not 
without  reluctance  and  hesitation  that  they 
had  brought  themselves  to  give  him  the  vice- 
presidency,  as  the  price  of  his  local  influence. 
But  the  Federalists,  of  course,  cared  not  at  all 
for  these  facts  ;  they  only  cherished  a  hatred 
and  fear  of  Jefferson  proportioned  to  the  love 
and  trust  felt  towards  him  by  the  Republicans. 
To  throw  him  out  would  seem  half  a  victory ; 
and  further,  many  Federalists  would  have  been 
so  much  pleased  to  see  Adams  defeated,  that 
they  would  have  been  almost  reconciled  to  the 
success  of  a  Republican  candidate  really  unde- 
sired  by  his  own  party.  A  revenge,  which  hurt 
so  many  of  those  whom  they  disliked,  seemed 
likely  to  tempt  the  an  ti- A  dams  Federalists  be- 
yond their  strength  of  resistance.  Happily 
they  were  stayed  from  the  immediate  accom- 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  205 

plisliraent  of  the  plan  by  the  impossibility  of  so 
dividing  the  Republican  members  as  to  effect 
the  necessary  combinations  ;  and  during  this 
fortunate  delay  strong  influences  were  at  work 
to  save  the  party  from  the  stigma  of  such  dis- 
graceful conduct.  Hamilton  strenuously  and 
nobly  exerted  the  great  authority  which  he  still 
wielded,  and  though  at  first  few  would  listen  to 
him,  yet  in  time  his  wonderful  force  triumphed 
again  as  it  had  so  often  done  in  years  gone  by. 
It  is  one  of  the  strangest  tales  that  history  has 
to  tell,  that  Alexander  Hamilton  was  a  chief  in- 
fluence in  making  Thomas  Jefferson  President 
of  the  United  States.  In  so  doing,  the  great 
Federalist  acted  from  a  strict  sense  of  duty,  not 
from  any  good-will  towards  Jefferson  person- 
ally, and  perhaps  this  fact  absolved  Jefferson 
from  any  sense  of  gratitude,  which  certainly  he 
never  manifested  in  the  faintest  degree,  even  in 
a  negative  way.  Upon  the  seventh  day  of  the 
balloting,  February  17,  1801,  the  long  anxiety 
which  had  weighed  terribly  not  more  upon  Jef- 
ferson individually  than  upon  the  people  of  the 
whole  country,  was  brought  to  an  end.  The 
Federalist  representative  from  Vermont  absent- 
ed himself ;  the  two  Federalists  from  Maryland 
put  in  blank  ballots.  So  ten  States,  a  sufficient 
number,  voted  for  Jefferson  for  President.  No 
one,  as  Jefferson  declared  with  some  pleasure, 


206  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

had  changed  sides ;  the  result  had  been  achieved 
not  by  apostate  votes  but  by  the  more  agree- 
able process  of  abstention.  The  Constitution 
had  passed  through  a  strain  of  such  severity  as 
it  has  never  but  once  since  then  encountered. 
The  recurrence  of  the  danger  was  soon  averted 
by  an  amendment  providing  that  henceforth  the 
electors  should  designate  in  their  ballots  their 
choice -for  President  and  for  Vice-President. 

Federalist  writers  have  alleged  that  "  terms" 
were  made  with  Jefferson  before  his  election 
was  permitted  to  take  place.  But  this  asser- 
tion, intended  to  cast  a  blot  upon  his  behavior, 
has  the  most  insignificant  foundation,  if,  indeed, 
it  has  any  at  all.  He  himself  said,  February 
15,  1801,  "  I  have  declared  to  them  unequivo- 
cally, that  I  would  not  receive  the  government 
on  capitulation,  that  I  would  not  go  into  it  with 
my  hands  tied."  He  did  not  do  so.  He  was 
not  a  man  who  could  ever  have  been  induced 
to  such  a  transaction.  The  most  that  passed, 
if  anything  at  all  did  really  pass,  was  a  state- 
ment made  by  one  of  his  friends  that,  if  elected, 
he  did  not  intend  to  set  himself  to  overthrow 
all  the  important  Federalist  legislation  of  the 
past  twelve  years,  or  to  make  a  clean  sweep  of 
Federalist  incumbents  from  government  offices. 
That  this  exposition  of  his  eminently  proper 
intentions  could  bring  any  reassurance  to  the 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  207 

Federalists  only  shows  how  absurdly  they  were 
frightened.  Jefferson  had  been  through  a  try- 
ing ordeal  in  a  very  honorable  and  clean-handed 
way  ;  and  in  obtaining  the  presidency  he  got 
no  more  than  he  was  righteously  entitled  to. 

Burr  came  out  as  badly  as  Jefferson  came 
well.  He  had  been  perfectly  willing  to  acquire 
the  presidency  by  the  foul  means  of  a  Federal 
alliance,  in  direct  contravention  of  the  well- 
known  wishes  of  his  own  party.  A  more  gross 
betrayal  of  confidence  could  hardly  be  con- 
ceived, even  in  political  life.  He  had  made  it 
clear  that  his  heart  was  set  upon  personal  ag- 
grandizement and  not  upon  a  Republican  suc- 
cess. His  untrustworthiness  appeared  the  more 
despicable  by  comparison  with  the  strictly  hon- 
orable conduct  of  Jefferson,  who  might  have 
excused  endeavors  on  his  own  behalf  upon  the 
plausible  ground  that  he  was  only  forwarding 
the  avowed  will  of  the  party.  The  antipathy 
with  which  many  persons  had  long  since  learned 
to  regard  Burr  now  became  the  sentiment  of 
all  honest  and  intelligent  men  in  the  nation. 
The  time  was  not  far  distant  when  he  was 
sorely  to  need  faithful  friends  ;  but  fiis  conduct 
in  these  days  of  temptation  had  alienated  all 
upright  men.  His  behavior  was  the  more  base 
because  Jefferson  had  behaved  handsomely  to- 
wards him  throughout,  and,  while  the  question 


208  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

was  still  unsettled,  wrote  to  him  that  "-it  was 
to  be  expected  that  the  enemy  would  endeavor 
to  sow  tares  between  us,  that  they  might  divide 
us  and  our  friends.  Every  consideration  satis- 
fies me  that  you  will  be  on  your  guard  against 
this,  as  I  assure  you  I  am  strongly."  But  how- 
ever Jefferson  might  deprecate  quarrels  in  the 
party,  both  on  political  and  personal  considera- 
tions, it  was  not  in  human  nature  that  his  faith 
in  Burr  should  not  be  gravely  impaired,  and 
his  private  good-will  towards  such  an  unscrupu- 
lous competitor  completely  undermined. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

PRESIDENT  :    FIRST    TERM.  —  OFFICES.  —  CAL- 
LENDER. 

ON  the  evening  of  March  3,  1801,  being  the 
last  day  of  Federalist  domination  in  the  United 
States,  the  functionaries  of  the  moribund  party 
were  busy  in  a  not  very  reputable  way.  Presi- 
dent Adams  was  making  Federalist  nomina- 
tions to  official  positions,  and  sending  them  in 
to  the  Senate,  which  was  rapidly  confirming 
them,  and  John  Marshall,  Secretary  of  State, 
was  signing  commissions  with  zealous  dispatch. 
The  hour  of  midnight  came  upon  him  while 
thus  employed,  and  a  dramatic  tale  represents 
Levi  Lincoln,  who  was  to  be  Attorney-General 
under  Jefferson,  walking  into  Marshall's  office, 
with  Mr.  Jefferson's  watch  in  his  hand,  and 
staying  this  process  of  office-filling  precisely  at 
twelve  o'clock,  though  many  unsigned  commis- 
sions still  lay  on  the  table.  This  behavior  of 
the  Federalists  would  have  been  unhandsome 
enough  under  any  circumstances,  but  was  ren- 
dered doubly  so  by  the  fact  that  they  professed 
to  regard  Jefferson  as  pledged  not  to  interfere 


210  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

with  the  persons  whom  he  should  find  oc- 
cupying governmental  posts  at  his  accession. 
Adams  added  his  own  little  personal  insult  by 
driving  out  of  Washington  during  the  night,  in 
order  to  avoid  the  spectacle  of  the  following 
day.  In  one  sense  of  the  word  that  spectacle 
was  sufficiently  extraordinary  to  be  worth  see- 
ing, for  Jefferson  had  resolved  that  no  pageant 
should  give  the  lie  to  his  democratic  principles, 
and  accordingly  he  rode  on  horseback,  clad  in 
studiously  plain  clothes,  without  attendants,  to 
the  capitol,  dismounted,  tied  his  horse  to  the 
fence,  and  walked  unceremoniously  into  the 
senate  chamber.  There  he  delivered  his  in- 
augural address,  an  effusion  rhetorical  to  excess 
and  breathing  boundless  philanthropy.  One 
can  read  between  the  lines  of  his  declamatory 
harangue  the  conviction  of  the  speaker  that 
his  accession  to  office  marked  the  opening  of  a 
glorious  epoch  in  human  progress.  When  he 
had  concluded  the  delivery  he  was  sworn  into 
office  by  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  the  simple  business  was  over. 

This  careful  abstinence  from  display  marked 
the  new  President's  whole  official  career,  and 
at  times  was  carried  to  an  extreme  which  was, 
perhaps,  even  more  pretentious  and  ill-judged 
than  was  the  contrary  fashion  which  he  so 
pointedly  endeavored  to  condemn.  For  in- 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  211 

stance,  when  Mr.  Merry,  the  British  minister, 
was  to  be  presented,  and  went  "in  full  official 
costume  "  at  the  appointed  day  and  hour,  in 
company  with  Mr.  Madison,  the  Secretary  of 
State,  to  the  presidential  mansion,  he  was  aston- 
ished by  a  scene  which  he  described  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

"  On  arriving  at  the  hall  of  audience  we  found  it 
empty,  at  which  Mr.  Madison  seemed  surprised,  and 
proceeded  to  an  entry  leading  to  the  President's 
study.  I  followed  him,  supposing  the  introduction 
was  to  take  place  in  the  adjoining  room.  At  this 
moment  Mr.  Jefferson  entered  the  entry  at  the  other 
end,  and  all  three  of  us  were  packed  in  this  narrow 
space,  from  which,  to  make  room,  I  was  obliged  to 
back  out.  In  this  awkward  position  my  introduction 
to  the  President  was  made  by  Mr.  Madison.  Mr. 
Jefferson's  appearance  soon  explained  to  me  that  the 
general  circumstances  of  my  reception  had  not  been 
accidental,  but  studied.  I,  in  my  official  costume, 
found  myself,  at  the  hour  of  reception  he  had  him- 
self appointed,  introduced  to  a  man  as  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  not  merely  in  an  undress,  but 
actually  standing  in  slippers  down  at  the  heels,  and 
both  pantaloons,  coat,  and  underclothes  indicative  of 
utter  slovenliness  and  indifference  to  appearances, 
and  in  a  state  of  negligence  actually  studied." 

This  was  the  ostentation  of  simplicity ;  and 
whether  it  shall  be  thought  better  than  the  os- 
tentation of  ceremonial  is  a  mere  question  of 


212  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  form  in  which  personal  vanity  happens  to 
be  developed,  though  Jefferson  preferred  to  ex- 
alt it  into  matter  of  principle.  But  beyond 
being  an  affectation,  it  had,  in  this  instance  at 
leasi^  a  serious  effect ;  for  it  incensed  the  min- 
ister, who  "  could  not  doubt  that  the  whole 
scene  was  prepared  and  intended  as  an  insult, 
not,  perhaps,  to  himself  personally,  but  to  the 
sovereign  whom  he  represented."  Jefferson's 
object,  however,  was  not  to  please  either  Mr. 
Merry  or  George  III.  ;  he  aimed  his  dress  and 
deportment  at  that  section  of  society  in  which 
his  constituents  were  chiefly  to  be  found,  and 
with  the  skill  of  a  good  actor  he  divined  ac- 
curately the  taste  of  his  audience. 

When  Jefferson  was  Vice-President  he  had 
said  :  "  The  second  office  of  the  government  is 
honorable  and  easy,  the  first  is  but  a  splendid 
misery."  From  the  foregoing  anecdotes  it  may 
be  conceived  that  he  succeeded  in  escaping  the 
splendor,  and  upon  the  misery  he  certainly  en- 
tered in  a  remarkably  cheerful  frame  of  mind. 
He  was  justified  in  doing  so,  since,  in  respect 
alike  of  the  foreign  and  domestic  outlook,  he 
had  every  reason  to  anticipate  a  tranquil  and 
prosperous  administration.  Not  only  was  his 
party  dominant  for  the  time,  but  he  could  dis- 
tinctly foresee  that  it  was  likely  to  retain  and 
increase  its  power  through  many  years  to  come. 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  213 

In  this  ruling  party  he  was  supreme ;  he  in- 
tended that  his  sway  should  be  gentle,  reason- 
able, and  beneficent,  but  he  knew  that  it  would 
be  none  the  less  absolute  because  his  own  mod- 
eration might  hold  it  free  from  the  traditional 
evil  characteristics  of  a  despotism.  Beneath 
such  genial  influences  his  philanthropic  good- 
will towards  mankind  expanded  liberally.  All 
his  thoughts  and  words  were  of  comprehensive 
love  and  universal  benevolence.  He  designed 
to  be  master  of  a  political  menagerie  in  which 
Federalist  lions  should  lie  down  peacefully 
among  his  flocks  of  Republican  lambs,  and  only 
a  very  few  irredeemable  "  monarchist "  snakes 
would  have  to  be  shut  up  in  a  secure  cage  by 
themselves.  "  My  hope,"  he  said,  "  is  that  the 
distinction  will  be  soon  lost,  or,  at  most,  that  it 
will  be  only  of  republican  and  monarchist ;  that 
the  body  of  the  nation,  even  that  part  which 
French  excesses  forced  over  to  the  P^ederal  side, 
will  rejoin  the  Republicans,  leaving  only  those 
who  were  pure  monarchists,  and  who  will  be 
too  few  to  form  a  sect."  Amid  the  exalted 
sentiments  of  his  florid  inaugural  address  he 
declared  that  "every  difference  of  opinion  is 
not  a  difference  of  principle.  We  have  called 
by  different  names  brethren  of  the  same  princi- 
ple. We  are  all  republicans  —  we  are  all  fed- 
eralists. .  .  .  Let  us,  then,  with  courage  and 


214  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

confidence,  pursue  our  own  federal  and  repub- 
lican principles,  our  attachment  to  our  Union 
and  representative  government." 

In  the  like  spirit  ho  sought  in  his  private  ut- 
terances to  erase  all  dividing  lines,  and  to  pro- 
duce an  harmonious  coalition  of  both  parties. 
A  fortnight  before  his  inauguration,  he  ac- 
knowledged that  the  behavior  of  certain  Fed- 
eralist representatives  during  the  election  must 
be  construed  as  a  "declaration  of  war."  "But," 
he  said,  "  their  conduct  appears  to  have  brought 
over  to  us  the  whole  body  of  Federalists,  who, 
being  alarmed  with  the  danger  of  a  dissolution 
of  the  government,  had  been  made  most  anx- 
iously to  wish  the  very  administration  they  had 
opposed,  and  to  view  it,  when  obtained,  as  a 
child  of  their  own."  A  few  days  later  he  said 
again  of  the  Federalists :  "  These  people  (I  al- 
ways exclude  their  leaders)  are  now  aggregated 
with  us ;  they  look  with  a  certain  degree  of 
affection  and  confidence  to  the  administration, 
ready  to  become  attached  to  it,  if  it  avoids  in 
the  outset  acts  which  might  revolt  and  throw 
them  off.  To  give  time  for  a  perfect  consolida- 
tion seems  prudent."  March  14  he  says  that 
the  many  citizens  who  had  been  thrown  into  a 
panic  by  the  revolutionary  movements  in  Eu- 
rope had  "  pretty  thoroughly  recovered,"  and 
"  the  recovery  bids  fair  to  be  complete,  and  to 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST    TERM.  215 

obliterate  entirely  the  line  of  party  division 
which  had  been  so  strongly  drawn.  Not  that 
their  leaders  have  come  over,  or  ever  can  come 
over.  But  they  stand  at  present  almost  with- 
out followers." 

Jefferson  was  notoriously  a  political  vision- 
ary, and  this  Utopia  of  harmony  was  only  one 
among  many  day-dreams.  Yet  it  was  rather 
an  exaggeration  of  the  facts  than  an  invention. 
For  he  was  really  a  shrewd  observer,  though 
with  a  sanguine  temperament ;  and  in  the  struc- 
tures which  his  imagination  reared  the  blocks 
were  all  actualities.  Thus,  now,  he  was  per- 
fectly right  in  his  prediction  that  his  party  was 
destined  to  absorb  the  great  bulk  of  the  nation, 
and  to  enjoy  an  ascendency  so  complete  and  so 
long  as  to  produce  nearly  all  the  practical  ef- 
fects of  a  universal  fusion  of  opinions.  If  it 
was  to  the  credit  of  his  ability  as  a  statesman 
that  he  so  surely  foresaw  this  future,  it  was  no 
less  to  the  credit  of  his  heart  that  he  antici- 
pated it  in  no  spirit  of  ungenerous  triumph. 
His  gratification  was  honorable  and  patriotic, 
with  little  tinge  of  selfishness  and  none  of  ma- 
lignity. His  joy  was  for  the  people  rather  than 
for  himself,  and  was  really  based  on  the  estab- 
lishment of  sound  principles  more  than  on  his 
own  elevation.  On  August  26, 1801,  he  wrote, 
"  the  moment  which  should  convince  me  that  a 


216  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

healing  of  the  nation  into  one  is  impracticable 
would  be  the  last  moment  of  my  wishing  to 
remain  where  I  am."  To  this  noble  end  he 
bent  all  his  thoughts  and  efforts.  The  mass  of 
the  Federalists,  he  said,  "  now  find  themselves 
separated  from  their  quondam  leaders.  If  we 
can  but  avoid  shocking  their  feelings  by  unnec- 
essary acts  of  severity  against  their  late  friends, 
they  will  in  a  little  time  cement  and  form  one 
mass  with  us,  and  by  these  means  harmony  and 
union  be  restored  to  our  country,  which  would 
be  the  greatest  good  we  could  effect." 

The  indications  of  success  in  this  grand  en- 
deavor were  from  time  to  time  hailed  by  Jef- 
ferson in  a  gladsome  spirit.  New  England  had 
always  been  the  stronghold  of  ultra  Federal- 
ism, an  Egyptian  realm  of  political  darkness, 
according  to  his  notions.  In  his  letter  of  June 
1,  1798,  already  quoted,  concerning  the  folly 
of  secession,1  he  had  written :  "  Seeing  that 
we  must  have  somebody  to  quarrel  with,  I  had 
rather  keep  our  New  England  associates  for  that 
purpose  than  to  see  our  bickerings  transferred 
to  others.  They  are  circumscribed  within  such 
narrow  limits,  and  their  population  so  full  that 
their  numbers  will  ever  be  the  minority,  and 
they  are  marked,  like  the  Jews,  with  such  a 
perversity  of  character  as  to  constitute,  from 

1  Ante,  p.  194. 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  217 

that  circumstance,  the  natural  division  of  our 
parties."  But  by  May  3,  1801,  he  was  noting 
with  delight  symptoms  of  improving  intelli- 
gence even  in  this  obnoxious  region.  "  A  new 
subject  of  congratulation  has  arisen,"  he  said, 
"  I  mean  the  regeneration  of  Rhode  Island.  I 
hope  it  is  the  beginning  of  that  resurrection  of 
the  genuine  spirit  of  New  England  which  rises 
for  life  eternal.  According  to  natural  order, 
Vermont  will  emerge  next,  because  least,  after 
Rhode  Island,  under  the  yoke  of  hierocracy." 
It  was  the  preachers  of  New  England,  much  ac- 
customed to  meddle  in  matters  political,  whom 
Jefferson  regarded  as  the  most  dangerous  en- 
emies of  sound  doctrines.  "  From  the  clergy," 
he  declared,  "  I  expect  no  mercy.  They  cruci- 
fied their  Saviour,  who  preached  that  their 
kingdom  was  not  of  this  world  ;  and  all  who 
practice  on  that  precept  must  expect  the  ex- 
treme of  their  wrath.  The  laws  of  the  present 
day  withhold  their  hands  from  blood ;  but  lies 
and  slander  still  remain  to  them."  Yet,  in  spite 
of  these  misguiding  obstructionists,  the  time  was 
not  far  distant  when  Massachusetts  herself  was 
to  become  for  a  time  a  Republican  State.  After 
he  had  been  President  a  single  year  Jefferson 
was  able  to  say:  "  Our  majority  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  has  been  almost  two  to  one ; 
in  the  Senate,  eighteen  to  fifteen.  After  an- 


218  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

other  election  it  will  be  of  two  to  one  in  the 
Senate,  and  it  would  not  be  for  the  public  good 
to  have  it  greater.  .  .  .  The  candid  Federalists 
acknowledge  that  their  party  can  never  more 
raise  its  head."  But  he  wisely  added :  "  We 
shall  now  be  so  strong  that  we  shall  certainly 
split  again  ;  .  .  .  but  it  must  be  under  another 
name  ;  that  of  Federalism  is  become  so  odious 
that  no  party  can  rise  under  it." 

This  result  had  been  greatly  furthered  by 
Jefferson's  wise  moderation  in  the  matter  of 
removals  from  office.  He  has  been  accused  of 
having  planted  the  villainous  seed  which  has 
since  grown  into  the  huge  wickedness  of  the  so- 
called  "  spoils  system,"  but  the  charge  is  un- 
justifiable. The  conduct  of  the  Federalists  in 
the  matter  of  filling  offices  prior  to  his  inaug- 
uration gave  him  such  provocation  and  excuse 
as  would  have  induced  many  men  to  set  about 
an  extensive  proscription.  He  did  nothing  of 
the  kind,  but  on  the  contrary  behaved  with  a 
liberality  towards  his  opponents  which  has 
never  been  rivalled  by  any  of  his  successors, 
save  only  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  which  since 
the  evil  days  of  Andrew  Jackson  would  be  re- 
garded as  nothing  less  than  quixotic.  On  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1801,  in  reply  to  a  letter  concerning 
this  interesting  subject,  he  wrote :  "  No  man 
who  has  conducted  himself  according  to  his 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  219 

duties  would  have  anything  to  fear  from  me, 
as  those  who  have  done  ill  would  have  nothing 
to  hope,  be  their  political  principles  what  they 
might.  .  .  .  The  Republicans  have  been  ex- 
cluded from  all  offices  from  the  first  origin  of 
the  division  into  Republican  and  Federalist. 
They  have  a  reasonable  claim  to  vacancies  till 
they  occupy  their  due  share."  The  righteous- 
ness of  this  proposition  could  hardly  be  contro- 
verted, and  Jefferson  was  justified  in  expecting 
the  "  justice  and  good  sense  of  the  Federal- 
ists "  to  induce  them  to  "  concur  in  the  fairness 
of  the  position,  that  after  they  have  been  in 
the  exclusive  possession  of  all  offices  from  the 
very  first  origin  of  party  among  us  to  the  3d 
of  March  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  night,  no  Re- 
publican ever  admitted,  ...  it  is  now  perfectly 
just  that  the  Republicans  should  come  in  for 
the  vacancies  which  may  fall  in,  until  something 
like  an  equilibrium  in  office  be  restored." 

The  serious  question,  however,  was  not  how 
vacancies  should  be  filled,  but  how  they  should 
be  created  ;  whether  the  gradual  operation  of 
deaths,  resignations,  and  expirations  of  terms 
of  office  should  be  awaited,  or  whether  numer- 
ous removals  should  be  made.  Jefferson  met 
this  problem  at  once,  boldly  and  frankly.  Re- 
movals u  must  be  as  few  as  possible,  done  grad- 
ually, and  bottomed  on  some  malversation  or 


220  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

inherent  disqualification."  One  class  only  of 
Federalist  incumbents  and  appointees  were  to 
be  cleanly  swept  away,  en  masse,  and  with  un- 
questionable propriety.  These  were  "the  new 
appointments  which  Mr.  Adams  crowded  in 
with  whip  and  spur  from  the  12th  of  Decem- 
ber, when  the  event  of  the  election  was  known, 
and  consequently  that  he  was  making  appoint- 
ments not  for  himself  but  for  his  successor, 
until  nine  o'clock  of  the  night  at  twelve  o'clock 
of  which  he  was  to  go  out  of  office.  This  out- 
rage on  decency  should  not  have  its  effect,  ex- 
cept in  the  life  appointments ;  ...  as  to  the 
others  I  consider  the  nominations  as  nullities." 
"  Official  mal-conduct "  was  of  course  added  as 
an  undeniably  proper  cause  of  removal.  Other- 
wise "  good  men,  to  whom  there  is  no  objection 
but  a  difference  of  political  principle,  practised 
on  only  as  far  as  the  right  of  a  private  citizen 
will  justify,  are  not  proper  subjects  of  re- 
moval." The  only  exception  which  Jefferson 
was  inclined  to  make  to  this  rule  was  "  in  the 
case  of  attorneys  and  marshals."  Since  the 
courts  were  "  decidedly  federal  and  irremov- 
able," he  believed  "  that  Republican  attorneys 
and  marshals,  being  the  doors  of  entrance  into 
the  courts,  are  indispensably  necessary  as  a 
shield  to  the  Republican  part  of  our  fellow-citi- 
zens which,  I  believe,  is  the  main  body  of  the 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  221 

people."  Though  it  is  needless  to  say  that  the 
Judiciary  department  was  both  honest  and  able, 
yet  there  was  fair  ground  for  a  Republican  to 
entertain  this  jealousy  and  distrust  towards  it. 
The  Supreme  Court,  by  virtue  of  its  power  to 
construe  the  new  Constitution,  was  of  scarcely 
less  political  importance  than  the  Executive. 
Yet  the  judges  of  all  the  courts  of  the  United 
States,  the  district  attorneys  and  the  marshals, 
almost  to  a  man,  were  Federalists,  and  undeni- 
ably, also,  most  of  them  were  partisans  in  their 
temper.  Even  a  new  and  superfluous  body  of 
judges  had  been  recently  created  by  the  Federal 
Congress,  and  all  the  seats  had  been  rilled  by 
Mr.  Adams  with  strong  friends  of  his  own,  hold- 
ing of  course  by  a  life  tenure.  Very  properly 
this  extra  bench  was  abolished  by  the  Republi- 
can Congress  shortly  after  Mr.  Jefferson's  acces- 
sion. But  the  other  courts  could  not  be  abol- 
ished with  equal  propriety,  and  the  attorney- 
ships  and  marshalships  could  only  be  emptied 
by  removals.  There  was  abundant  justification 
for  Jefferson's  assertion  that  the  Republican 
party  ought  to  have  some  foothold  in  the  great 
and  omnipresent  department  of  justice.  The 
desire  to  base  removals  upon  official  misconduct 
doubtless  induced  an  extreme  readiness  to  be- 
lieve vague  and  doubtful  charges,  such,  for  ex- 
ample, as  the  common  one  of  "  packing  ju- 


222  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ries  ;  "  but  this  signified  only  a  wish  to  throw 
a  cloak  of  decency  about  a  transaction  not  sub- 
stantially blameworthy. 

Upon  such  principles  concerning  offices  did 
Jefferson  start,  principles  which  he  not  only 
professed  in  words  but  carried  out  in  practice. 
In  time,  as  he  came  to  feel  a  little  more  accus- 
tomed to  exercise  power,  and  perhaps  a  trifle 
weary  of  resisting  importunities,  he  modified  his 
views  a  little,  but  only  a  little,  for  the  worse. 
His  real  kindness  of  heart  made  it  always  dis- 
agreeable to  him  to  turn  any  one  out  of  office ; 
he  spoke  of  it  as  "a  dreadful  operation  to  per 
form,"  a  "  painful  operation."  He  suspected 
that  "  the  heaping  of  abuse  on  me  personally 
has  been  with  the  design  and  the  hope  of  pro- 
voking me  to  make  a  general  sweep  of  all  Fed- 
eralists out  of  office,"  to  the  end  that  thus  he 
might  be  rendered  unpopular  and  the  Federalist 
party  regain  through  persecution  the  consolida- 
tion which  it  was  so  rapidly  losing.  "  But," 
he  said,  "  as  I  have  carried  no  passion  into  the 
execution  of  this  disagreeable  duty,  I  shall  suf- 
fer none  to  be  excited."  After  he  had  been 
somewhat  more  than  two  years  in  office,  he 
wrote :  "  Some  removals,  to  wit,  sixteen,  to  the 
end  of  our  first  session  of  Congress,  were  made 
on  political  principles  alone,  in  very  urgent 
cases;  and  we  determined  to  make  no  more 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  223 

but  for  delinquency  or  active  and  bitter  oppo- 
sition to  the  order  of  things  which  the  public 
•will  had  established.  On  this  last  ground  nine 
were  removed  from  the  end  of  the  first  to  the 
end  of  the  second  session  of  Congress  ;  and  one 
since  that.  So  that  sixteen  [twenty-six?]  only 
have  been  removed  in  the  whole  for  political 
principles,  that  is  to  say,  to  make  room  for 
some  participation  for  the  Republicans."  On 
May  30,  1804,  he  was  willing  to  state  as  a 
cause  for  removal,  "that  the  patronage  of  pub- 
lic offices  should  no  longer  be  confided  to  one 
who  uses  it  for  active  opposition  to  the  national 
will,"  which,  of  course,  was  only  a  clever  way 
of  describing  hostility  to  the  dominant  party. 
Yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  Jefferson  never 
drifted  far  from  the  honorable  doctrines  which 
he  first  proclaimed,  and  that  he  showed  great 
courage  and  honesty  in  permitting  their  offices 
to  be  retained  by  the  mass  of  incumbents  be 
longing  to  a  party  which  had  rigidly  proscribed 
Republicans.  Had  positions  been  reversed,  it 
is  rather  to  be  hoped  than  asserted  that  a  Fed- 
eralist President  would  have  emulated  this  con- 
duct of  the  Republican  leader.  Among  the 
removals  which  Jefferson  did  make  was  that  of 
John  Quincy  Adams  from  the  place  of  commis- 
sioner of  bankruptcy  at  Boston.  The  Federal- 
ists regarded  this  as  a  very  petty  manifestation 


224  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

of  personal  malice ;  but  Jefferson  afterward,  in 
a  letter  to  Mrs.  John  Adams,  apparently  in 
reply  to  her  reproaches,  declared  that  he  -was 
ignorant  that  Mr.  Adams  held  the  position 
when  he  caused  the  place  to  be  vacated. 

In  the  important  and  very  difficult  matter  of 
selecting  appointees  President  Jefferson  acted 
with  painstaking  conscientiousness.  "  There  is 
nothing,"  he  said,  "  that  I  am  so  anxous  about 
as  good  nominations."  "No  duty  ...  is  more 
difficult  to  fulfil.  The  knowledge  of  characters 
possessed  by  a  single  individual  is,  of  necessity, 
limited."  Accordingly  he  begs  friends  in  whom 
he  can  trust  to  aid  him  with  information.  Some- 
times, though  apparently  very  seldom,  he  made 
mistakes.  He  was  severely  attacked  for  giving 
the  collectorship  of  New  Haven  to  one  Samuel 
Bishop,  who  was  said  to  be  grossly  incapaci- 
tated by  old  ago  ;  but  he  defended  the  appoint- 
ment with  very  plausible  justifications.  We 
never  find  him  treating  past  political  services 
as  a  recommendation  to  office,  and  he  rigor- 
ously condemned  any  active  interference  in 
politics  by  the  incumbents  of  federal  offices. 
February  2, 1801,  he  wrote :  "  One  thing  I  will 
say,  that  as  to  the  future,  interferences  with 
elections,  whether  of  the  state  or  general  gov- 
ernment, by  officers  of  the  latter,  should  bo 
deemed  cause  for  removal ;  because  the  consti- 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  225 

tutional  remedy  by  the  elective  principle  be- 
comes nothing,  if  it  may  be  smothered  by  the 
enormous  patronage  of  the  federal  government." 
He  afterward  treated  "  electioneering  activity, 
and  open  and  industrious  opposition  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  present  government,"  as  among 
the  proper  causes  for  removing  Federalists  from 
office.  But  the  rules  which  he  enforced  against 
Federalist  placemen  he  laid  down  equally 
against  Republican  incumbents,  and  carried 
into  effect  as  far  probably  as  could  be  fairly  ex- 
pected. In  September,  1804,  he  notified  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  that  "the  officers 
of  the  federal  government  are  meddling  too 
much  with  the  public  elections.  Will  it  be 
best  to  admonish  them  privately  or  by  procla- 
mation ?  This  for  consideration  till  we  meet." 

The  Federalist  newspapers  were  far  from  re- 
ciprocating the  generosity  displayed  by  Jeffer- 
son towards  the  office-holders  of  their  party. 
It  is  to  this  period  that  the  pitiful  story  of  Cal- 
lender's  malicious  defamation  belongs.  This 
miserable  fellow  was  a  Scotchman  by  birth,  but 
had  been  compelled  to  seek  refuge  in  this  coun- 
try in  order  to  escape  prosecution  for  the  con- 
tents of  a  pamphlet  which  he  had  written 
concerning  "  The  Political  Progress  of  Great 
Britain."  In  the  United  States  he  brought  his 
pen  to  the  service  of  the  Republican  party.  At 
15 


226  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

first  Jefferson  esteemed  him  an  able  and  useful 
writer ;  for  his  assaults,  though  coarse,  were 
forcible ;  and  he  was  willing  to  say  vigorously 
things  which  persons  of  higher  position  were 
not  unwilling  to  have  said  by  others  on  their 
behalf.  Morally  he  was  a  thoroughly  low  and 
contemptible  creature,  utterly  devoid  of  any  re- 
straints of  honor  or  decency.  It  was  he  who 
first  got  upon  the  scent  of  Hamilton's  amour 
with  Mrs.  Reynolds,  and  at  once  published  the 
evidence  which  he  had  dishonorably  secured; 
and  it  was  he  who  wrote  the  most  infamous  of 
those  attacks  upon  Washington  which  were,  in 
the  opinion  not  only  of  contemporaries,  but  of 
posterity,  the  preeminently  unjustifiable  and 
unpardonable  offence  of  the  new  party.  As 
his  scurrility  increased,  his  ability  diminished ; 
while  of  discretion  he  was  utterly  void.  Soon 
his  diatribes  degenerated  to  the  low  level  to  be 
expected  from  a  political  hack-writer  who  was 
also  an  habitual  drunkard.  Jefferson,  according 
to  his  own  account,  became  heartily  disgusted 
with  a  protege*  who  had  become  mischievous  as 
well  as  repulsive,  and  would  have  given  more  to 
stop  so  impious  a  pen  than  to  keep  it  moving. 
Yet,  whether  from  softness  of  heart,  as  he  pro- 
tested, or  from  a  secret  gratification  at  the  work 
Callender  was  doing,  as  the  Federalists  charged, 
Jefferson  continued  from  time  to  time  to  assist 
the  wretch  with. small  sums  of  money. 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  227 

Under  Adams'  administration  Callender  had 
the  good  fortune  to  become  a  martyr,  being  one 
of  half  a  dozen  defendants  who  were  found 
guilty,  imprisoned,  and  fined  under  the  Sedition 
law.  Jefferson,  as  soon  as  he  came  into  office, 
remitted  the  short  remainder  of  the  term  of  im- 
prisonment, and  caused  the  fine  to  be  repaid, 
"by  a  somewhat  doubtful  exercise  of  power,"  as 
the  Federalists  very  properly  said.  But  Jeffer- 
son considered  the  Sedition  law  "  to  be  a  nullity, 
as  absolute  and  as  palpable  as  if  Congress  had 
ordered  us  to  fall  down  and  worship  a  golden 
image ;  and  that  it  was  as  much  [his]  duty  to 
arrest  its  execution  in  every  stage  as  it  would 
have  been  to  have  rescued  from  the  fiery  furnace 
those  who  should  have  been  cast  into  it  for  re- 
fusing to  worship  the  image."  Despite  his  dread 
of  embroilments,  Jefferson  never  shirked  the  re- 
sponsibilities imposed  upon  him  by  such  strong 
convictions  ;  and  Callender  now -had  the  advan- 
tage of  the  President's  courage,  as  before  of  his 
liberality.  But  a  nature  more  greedy  than 
grateful  only  hungered  for  additional  favors. 
The  liberated  man  hastened  to  urge  the  Presi- 
dent to  remove  the  postmaster  at  Richmond 
and  give  him  the  office.  The  postmaster  was 
a  Federalist  editor,  but  Jefferson  very  honor- 
ably refused  to  displace  him.  For  this  behav- 
ior he  speedily  suffered  in  a  fashion  which  cer- 


228  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

tainly  hardly  encourages  men  in  public  life  to 
be  scrupulously  upright.  Callender  immedi- 
ately allied  himself  with  the  editorial  staff  of 
the  Richmond  "  Recorder,"  and  filled  that 
paper,  day  after  day,  with  countless  stories  — 
partly  his  own,  partly  contributed  by  others 
—  derogatory  to  Jefferson.  The  sheet,  hitherto 
a  petty  local  publication,  quickly  found  its  way 
to  the  remotest  corners  of  the  country ;  for  Cal- 
lender's  characteristic  onslaught  was  of  the 
most  ignoble,  but  certainly  of  the  most  effec- 
tive, kind.  He  charged  Jefferson  with  having 
been  his  friend  and  financial  assistant,  and  his 
confederate  in  the  libels  upon  Washington  ;  but 
his  chief  topic  was  Jefferson's  private  life,  and 
his  many  tales  were  scandalous  and  revolt- 
ing to  the  last  degree.  Naturally  these  slanders 
will  not  bear  repetition  here;  for  they  were 
worse  than  mere  charges  of  simple  amours. 
Apart  from  the  fact  that  no  decent  man  would 
have  wished  to  dip  his  hands  in  such  filth,  one 
would  think  that  the  transaction  which  had  in- 
stigated Callender  to  this  conduct  would  have 
induced  any  Federalist  editor  of  moderately 
good  feeling  to  discountenance  so  base  a  re- 
venge. At  least  these  gentlemen  might  have 
remembered  that  they  had  lately  stigmatized 
Callender  as  a  low  and  untrustworthy  liar,  when 
Hamilton  and  Washington  had  been  his  vie- 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  229 

tims.  But,  to  the  discredit  of  the  journalists 
of  that  period,  it  must  be  confessed  that  their 
conduct  was  contrary  both  to  gratitude  and  to 
decency.  Every  Federalist  writer  hastened  to 
draw  for  his  own  use  bucketful  after  bucketful 
from.  Callender's  foul  reservoir,  and  the  gos- 
sip about  Jefferson's  graceless  debaucheries  was 
sent  into  every  household  in  the  United  States. 
Jefferson  never  undertook  to  deny  any  of  these 
narratives ;  and  Federalist  historians,  from 
whom  a  fairer  judgment  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, have  seen  fit  to  treat  this  silence  as  evi- 
dence of  guilt.  Obviously  it  was  not  so.  The 
President  of  the  United  States  could  hardly 
stoop  to  give  the  lie  to  a  fellow  like  Callender, 
especially  in  such  a  department  of  calumny.  It 
would  be  pleasanter  for  us  also  to  have  ignored 
the  matter ;  but  this  was  scarcely  possible,  since 
the  charges  gravely  affected  Jefferson's  happi- 
ness and  reputation  at  the  time,  and  have  ever 
since  been  repeated  to  his  discredit  by  writers 
upon  that  period.  He  will  probably  always  be 
thought  of  as  a  man  who  carried  licentiousness 
far  beyond  the  limit  which  a  grateful  nation 
has  tried  hard  to  condone  in  the  cases  of  Frank- 
lin, Hamilton,  and  many  another  among  the 
sages  and  patriots  even  of  those  virtuous  and 
simple  days.  Nevertheless  there  is  no  sufficient 
and  unquestionable  proof  that  Jefferson  was  one 


230  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

whit  worse  than  the  majority  of  his  compeers. 
Nor  is  it  probable  that  any  one  would  ever  have 
thought  him  so  if  he  could  have  brought  him- 
self to  make  a  political  removal  and  appoint- 
ment such  as  in  these  days  would  be  regarded 
as  matter  of  course. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

PRESIDENT:   FIRST   TERM.  —  LOUISIANA. 

JEFFERSON  had  a  fair  measure  of  respect  for 
the  Constitution,  —  perhaps  a  little  more  than 
is  ordinarily  felt  towards  a  common  statute. 
He  was  far  from  regarding  it  with  a  blind 
homage,  as  if  it  were  the  sacred  principle  of  the 
national  life.  This  was  not  alone  attributable 
to  the  facts  that  tradition  had  not  yet  lent  to  it 
a  sort  of  consecration,  and  that  prosperity  be- 
neath it  had  not  endured  long  enough  to  give 
it  a  reputation ;  the  feeling  was  more  largely 
due  to  Jefferson's  abstract  views  concerning 
government.  A  constitution  might  too  often 
have  the  effect  of  fetters  upon  the  nation.  The 
will  of  the  people,  which  had  made  the  Consti- 
tution, might  at  any  time  modify  or  abrogate  it. 
That  will  ought  to  be  the  ultimate  rule  of  de- 
cision in  any  matter  sufficiently  momentous  to 
justify  an  appeal  to  it.  Therefore,  if  the  will 
of  the  people  was  with  him  in  an  unconstitu- 
tional policy  which  he  believed  to  be  sound, 
Jefferson  did  not  hesitate  to  speak  respectfully 
of  the  Constitution,  and  to  disregard  it.  Per- 


232  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

haps  he  is  the  only  President  of  the  United 
States  who  has  ever  avowedly  and  with  pre- 
meditation carried  through  an  important  extra- 
constitutional  measure,  relying  for  justification 
simply  upon  the  wisdom  of  the  act  and  the 
wish  of  the  nation.  Such  was  the  real  charac- 
ter of  his  purchase  of  Louisiana. 

From  the  first  moment,  many  years  before 
the  time  with  which  we  are  now  dealing,  when 
his  attention  had  been  called  to  the  rights  of 
the  United  States  concerning  the  Mississippi 
River,  Jefferson  had  been  fully  alive  to  their 
vast  importance.  Indeed  his  estimate  of  the 
probable  traffic  upon  that  stream,  and  the  con- 
sequent growth  of  New  Orleans  as  a  commer- 
cial metropolis,  has  since  appeared  exaggerated, 
at  least  in  comparison  with  the  proportionate 
growth  of  the  rest  of  the  country.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1790  a  rupture  between  England  and 
Spain  seemed  imminent,  and  Jefferson  promptly 
made  ready  to  seize  the  opportune  moment  for 
compelling  a  settlement  of  the  open  question 
of  navigation.  Spain  owned  both  sides  of  the 
mouth  of  the  river  ;  but  the  United  States  had 
always  asserted  that  this  ownership  gave  the 
Spaniards  no  right  to  close  the  stream  to  the 
free  passage  of  American  vessels.  In  August, 
1790,  Jefferson,  being  then  Secretary  of  State, 
wrote  a  vigorous  letter  to  Carmichael,  the  rep- 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  233 

resentative  of  the  United  States  at  the  Court 
of  Madrid.  He  directed  that  gentleman  to  im- 
press the  Spanish  minister  "  thoroughly  with 
the  necessity  of  an  early  and  even  an  immediate 
settlement  of  this  matter  ;  "  though  "  a  resump- 
tion of  the  negotiation  is  not  desired  on  our 
part,  unless  he  can  determine,  in  the  opening 
of  it,  to  yield  the  immediate  and  full  enjoy- 
ment of  that  navigation."  But  if  this  point 
was  to  be  yielded  in  the  outset,  what  further 
subject  for  negotiation  remained  ?  Jefferson 
boldly  said  that  it  was  "  a  port,  where  the  sea 
and  river  vessels  may  meet  and  exchange  loads, 
and  where  those  employed  about  them  may  be 
safe  and  unmolested."  There  must  be  no  dally- 
ing about  this  business,  he  added,  since  "it  is 
impossible  to  answer  for  the  forbearance  of  our 
Western  citizens.  We  endeavor  to  quiet  them 
with  an  expectation  of  an  attainment  of  their 
ends  by  peaceable  means.  But  should  they,  in 
a  moment  of  impatience,  hazard  others,  there  is 
no  saying  how  far  we  may  be  led ;  for  neither 
themselves  nor  their  rights  will  ever  be  aban- 
doned by  us." 

With  an  admirable  zeal  and  persistence  Jef- 
ferson pushed  this  demand  for  many  months. 
He  rapidly  developed  his  notion  concerning  the 
port ;  he  declared  the  obvious  necessity  that  it 
should  "be  so  well  separated  from  the  terri< 


234  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

tories  of  Spain  and  her  jurisdiction  as  not  to 
engender  daily  disputes  and  broils  between  us," 
such  as  must  inevitably  "  end  in  war."  "  Na- 
ture," he  then  cleverly  added,  "  has  decided 
what  shall  be  the  geography  of  that  in  the  end, 
whatever  it  might  be  in  the  beginning,  by  cut- 
ting off  from  the  adjacent  countries  of  Florida 
and  Louisiana,  and  inclosing  between  two  of  its 
channels,  a  long  and  narrow  slip  of  land,  called 
the  Island  of  New  Orleans."  He  admitted  that 
this  audacious  proposition  "  could  not  be  haz- 
arded to  Spain  in  the  first  step ;  it  would  be 
too  disagreeable  at  first  view.;  because  this  isl- 
and, with  its  town,  constitutes  at  present  their 
principal  settlement  in  that  part  of  their  domin- 
ions." But  he  cheerfully  reflected  that  "  rea- 
son and  events  may  by  little  and  little  familiar- 
ize them  to  it."  He  was  right ;  in  due  time 
"reason  and  events,"  having  had  the  way 
opened  for  them  by  the  diplomatic  skill  and 
pertinacity  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  did  famil- 
iarize the  Spanish  Court  with  this  "  idea."  The 
right  of  navigation  was  conceded  by  the  treaty 
of  1795,  and  with  it  a  right  to  the  free  use  of 
the  port  of  New  Orleans  upon  reasonably  satis- 
factory terms  for  a  period  of  three  years,  and 
thereafterward  until  some  other  equally  con- 
venient harbor  should  be  allotted.  The  credit 
of  this  ultimate  achievement  was  Mr.  Jeffer- 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  235 

son's,  none  the  less  because  the  treaty  was  not 
signed  until  he  had  retired  from  office.  It  was 
really  his  statesmanship  which  had  secured  it, 
not  only  in  spite  of  the  natural  repugnance  of 
Spain,  but  also  in  spite  of  the  obstacles  indi- 
rectly thrown  in  his  way  in  the  earlier  stages 
by  many  persons  in  the  United  States,  who  pri- 
vately gave  the  Spanish  minister  to  understand 
that  the  country  cared  little  about  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  would  not  support  the  Secretary  in 
his  demands. 

It  is  curious  to  note  that  in  the  course  of  this 
business  there  was  already  a  faint  foreshadow- 
ing of  that  principle,  which  many  years  after- 
wards was  christened  with  the  name  of  Monroe. 
For  a  brief  time  it  was  thought,  not  without 
reason,  that  so  soon  as  hostilities  should  break 
out  between  England  and  Spain,  the  former 
power  would  seize  upon  the  North  American 
possessions  of  the  latter.  Jefferson  wrote  to 
Gouverneur  Morris :  "  We  wish  you,  therefore, 
to  intimate  to  them  [the  British  ministry]  that 
we  cannot  be  indifferent  to  enterprises  of  this 
kind.  That  we  should  contemplate  a  change 
of  neighbors  with  extreme  uneasiness.  That  a 
due  balance  on  our  borders  is  not  less  desirable 
to  us  than  a  balance  of  power  in  Europe  has 
always  appeared  to  them." 

The   arrangements  at  last  consummated  in 


236  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

1795  remained  in  force,  working  fairly  well,  for 
many  years.  But  the  wiser  men  in  the  United 
States  were  not  so  much  satisfied  as  they  were 
biding  their  time  to  get  a  more  permanent  foot- 
hold. In  1802—3  the  opportunity  came,  cer- 
tainly by  a  very  peculiar  introduction.  So 
early  as  1790  there  had  been  suspicions  that 
France  would  like  to  regain  her  possessions  on 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Thus  at  that  time  Jeffer- 
son, though  seeking  French  aid  to  assist  him 
in  enforcing  the  demands  of  the  United  States 
against  Spain,  had  been  afraid  to  expose  the 
full  extent  of  his  designs ;  for,  he  said,  "it  is 
believed  here  that  the  Count  de  Moustier,  dur- 
ing his  residence  with  us,  conceived  the  project 
of  again  engaging  France  in  a  colony  upon  our 
continent,  and  that  he  directed  his  views  to 
some  of  the  country  on  the  Mississippi,  and  ob- 
tained and  communicated  a  good  deal  of  matter 
on  the  subject  to  his  court."  For  some  years 
afterward  the  project  slept,  but  rumors  of  like 
purport  started  into  fresh  life  early  in  1800. 
Apparently  these  gave  at  first  little  serious  un- 
easiness, though  later  in  the  year  instructions 
were  sent  to  the  American  ministers  at  Lon- 
don, Paris,  and  Madrid  to  do  all  in  their  power 
to  prevent  any  cession  of  territory  by  Spain  to 
France.  Interference,  however,  came  too  late. 
Before  the  instructions  reached  our  ministers 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  237 

the  deed  had  been  done.  On  October  1,  1800, 
Spain  ceded  all  Louisiana  to  France.  The 
treaty,  however,  was  kept  secret  for  a  while, 
so  that  not  until  the  spring  of  1802  did  it  be- 
come really  known  in  the  United  States  as  an 
assured  fact.  Jefferson  then  was  profoundly 
chagrined.  He  appreciated  more  fully  than 
any  other  public  man  of  the  day  the  immeas- 
urable value  of  that  region  to  the  States ;  and 
he  was  proportionately  disturbed  to  see  it  pass 
from  weak  into  strong  hands. 

The  vexation  felt  by  Jefferson,  in  his  public 
capacity,  might  have  been  partially  allayed  by 
a  consolation  afforded  to  him  as  an  individual. 
For  the  situation  at  least  gave  him  an  oppor- 
tunity to  clear  his  character  from  the  aspersions 
of  those  Federalists  who  had  so  bitterly  accused 
him  of  loving  France  better  than  his  native 
land.  No  sooner  did  he  conceive  that  the  in- 
terests of  the  two  peoples  menaced  even  a 
future  clashing,  than  he  showed  himself  thor- 
oughly and  zealously  American.  Instantly  his 
French  sympathy  dwindled  into  a  feeble  ex- 
pression of  regret  that  France  should  be  trans- 
formed from  a  "natural  friend"  into  a  "natural 
enemy ; "  for  this,  he  said,  was  the  inevitable 
consequence  of  what  had  occurred.  April  18, 
1802,  he  wrote  to  Robert  R.  Livingston,  minis- 
ter at  Paris :  — 


238  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

"  The  cession  of  Louisiana  and  the  Floridas  by 
Spain  to  France  works  most  sorely  on  the  United 
States.  On  this  subject  the  Secretary  of  State  has 
written  to  you  fully,  yet  I  cannot  forbear  recurring 
to  it  personally,  so  deep  is  the  impression  it  makes 
on  my  mind.  It  completely  reverses  all  the  political 
relations  of  the  United  States.  .  .  .  There  is  on  the 
globe  one  single  spot,  the  possessor  of  which  is  our 
natural  and  habitual  enemy.  It  is  New  Orleans. 
...  It  is  impossible  that  France  and  the  United 
States  can  continue  long  friends,  when  they  meet  in 
so  irritable  a  position.  .  .  .  We  must  be  very  im- 
provident if  we  do  not  begin  to  make  arrangements 
on  that  hypothesis.  The  day  that  France  takes  pos- 
session of  New  Orleans  fixes  the  sentence  which  is 
to  restrain  her  forever  within  her  low  water  mark. 
It  seals  the  Union  of  two  nations,  who,  in  conjunc- 
tion, can  maintain  exclusive  possession  of  the  ocean. 
From  that  moment  we  must  marry  ourselves  to  the 
British  fleet  and  nation." 

One  almost  discredits  bis  own  senses  as  he 
beholds  Jefferson  voluntarily  proclaiming  the 
banns  for  these  nuptials,  which  during  so  many 
years  past  would  have  seemed  to  him  worse 
than  illicit.  Yet  he  was  never  more  in  earnest, 
and  betrays  a  striking  solemnity  and  depth  of 
feeling  throughout  his  letter,  while  obviously 
writing  under  the  influence  of  an  unusual  ex- 
citement. Yet  even  beneath  disappointment 
he  was  sanguine,  and  amid  indignation  he  was 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  239 

diplomatic.  "  I  should  suppose,"  he  says,  "  that 
all  these  considerations  might,  in  some  proper 
form,  be  brought  into  view  of  the  government 
of  France.  Though  stated  by  us  it  ought  not 
to  give  offence,  because  we  do  not  bring  them 
forward  as  a  menace,  but  as  consequences  not 
controllable  by  us,  but  inevitable  from  the 
course  of  things."  As  usual  he  turns  to  time 
as  his  most  efficient  ally.  The  French  troops, 
he  says,  are  to  subdue  St.  Domingo  before  they 
cross  to  receive  delivery  of  Louisiana ;  and  he 
complacently  adds,  "  the  conquest  of  St.  Do- 
mingo will  not  be  a  short  work.  It  will  take 
considerable  time  and  wear  down  a  great  num- 
ber of  soldiers."  This  interval  he  hopes  to  em- 
ploy well  in  working  upon  the  French  govern- 
ment. 

But  an  untoward  event,  occurring  a  few 
months  after  the  receipt  of  news  of  the  cession, 
was  near  robbing  Mr.  Jefferson  even  of  such 
slight  possibilities  as  might  be  contained  in  this 
interval.  At  this  most  inopportune  moment,  in 
October,  1802,  the  Spanish  Intendant  at  New 
Orleans  issued  an  edict,  in  direct  contravention 
of  treaty  stipulations,  cutting  short  the  Ameri- 
can privilege  of  deposit  at  that  port.  At  once 
the  hot  spirit  of  the  Western  country  was  in  a 
wild  blaze.  Those  pioneers  who  kept  their 
rifles  over  their  fire-places  or  behind  their  front 


240  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

doors,  ready  to  shoot  a  catamount,  an  Indian, 
or  each  other,  at  a  moment's  notice,  now  talked 
fiercely  of  marching  straight  into  New  Orleans, 
and  making  a  prompt  settlement  with  powder 
and  lead.  Jefferson  was  much  disturbed  by 
demonstrations  which  threatened  serious  inter- 
ference with  a  plan  which  he  had  conceived. 
War  he  rightly  deemed  the  last  resource.  A 
display  of  warlike  spirit  might  be  useful  to  em- 
phasize his  diplomacy ;  but  he  was  alarmed  at 
the  prospect  of  this  temper  really  bursting  into 
action.  Yet  he  sympathized  with  the  Western 
men  in  their  wrath,  and  bore  them  no  grudge, 
though  they  seemed  so  likely  to  derange  his 
schemes  by  their  uncontrollable  zeal. 

The  persons  with  whom  the  President  was 
really  vexed,  and  fairly  enough  too,  it  must  be 
confessed,  were  the  Federalists.  The  remnant 
of  this  party  now  for  an  instant  imagined  that 
they  saw  a  chance  of  being  borne  again  into 
power  by  hostilities  with  France.  Careless  of 
the  interests  of  the  country  as  against  the  in- 
terests of  party,  they  became  clamorous  for 
immediate  war.  Jefferson  well  described  the 
situation,  January  13,  1803  :  — 

"  The  agitation  of  the  public  mind  ...  is  extreme. 
In  the  Western  country  it  is  natural,  and  grounded 
on  honest  motives.  In  the  seaports  it  proceeds  from 
a  desire  for  war,  which  increases  the  mercantile  lot- 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  241 

tery;  in  the  Federalists  generally,  and  especially 
those  of  Congress,  the  object  is  to  force  us  into  war 
if  possible,  in  order  to  derange  our  finances  ;  or,  if 
this  cannot  be  done,  to  attach  the  Western  country  to 
them,  as  their  best  friends,  and  thus  get  again  into 
power.  Remonstrances,  memorials,  etc.,  are  now  cir- 
culating through  the  whole  of  the  Western  country, 
and  signed  by  the  body  of  the  people." 

But  the  small  and  embittered  faction  into 
which  the  Federalist  party  had  rapidly  degener- 
ated could  not  beat  Jefferson,  intrenched  in  the 
confidence  of  the  nation,  and  backed  by  a  hand- 
some majority  in  Congress. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  tbis  ma- 
jority was  imperiously  led  by  John  Randolph, 
whose  faitb  in  Jefferson  was  still  blindly  im- 
plicit. In  the  latter  part  of  1802  he  carried 
the  House  into  secret  session,  against  vehement 
opposition  from  the  Federalists,  in  order  to 
give  the  President  an  opportunity  for  making 
certain  private  communications,  and  obtaining 
legislation  thereon.  Precisely  wbat  took  place 
behind  the  closed  doors  was  never  fully  di- 
vulged ;  but  tbe  substance  of  the  whole  work 
done  publicly  and  privately  during  a  few  weeks 
of  that  winter  was  thoroughly  satisfactory  to 
the  Executive.  Many  resolutions  offered  by  the 
Federalists,  designed  at  once  to  obstruct  a 
peaceable  settlement  and  to  win  the  allegiance 

16 


242  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

of  the  West  by  a  show  of  angry  zeal,  were  voted 
down  by  loyal  majorities.  Finally,  the  manage- 
ment of  the  whole  business  was  left  to  the  Presi- 
dent, who  was  further  provided  with  the  sum  of 
two  million  dollars,  to  be  used  as  he  should  see 
fit. 

Jefferson's  plans  were  by  this  time  well  un- 
derstood to  be  the  purchase  of  New  Orleans, 
and  probably  also  something  more  on  the  east 
side  of  the  river.  He  had  early  adopted  this 
scheme,  justly  thinking  that  it  would  be  cheaper, 
wiser,  more  humane,  in  every  way  more  becom- 
ing a  civilized  and  mercantile  people,  to  buy  the 
fee  of  such  territory  as  they  needed,  rather  than 
to  engage  in  a  war  simply  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  an  easement  in  an  island.  The  two 
million  dollars  were  required  to  pave  the  way ; 
in  other  words,  to  bribe  some  of  the  more  influ- 
ential among  those  virtuous  legislators  who  had 
succeeded  the  wicked  monarchs  of  France.  Jef- 
ferson had  already  taken  initial  steps  towards 
this  bargain  through  Livingston  at  Paris.  But 
that  minister,  before  he  had  learned  the  execu- 
tive purpose,  had  unfortunately  expressed  very 
different  views  of  his  own.  He  had  told  the 
French  government  that  the  United  States  cared 
not  at  all  whether  their  neighbor  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi  was  to  be  France  or  Spain, 
provided  the  right  of  navigation  and  privileges 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  243 

of  deposit  should  not  be  interfered  with.  After 
correction,  indeed,  he  began  to  discuss  a  pur- 
chase, and  in  time  would  probably  have  con- 
cluded it ;  but  Jefferson,  for  many  reasons, 
chose  to  send  a  special  emissary.  Apart  from 
the  point  of  sympathetic  conviction,  it  was 
desirable  to  make  a  show  of  energy  before  the 
West  and  the  Federalists,  who  had  little  con- 
fidence in  Livingston.  Further,  it  was  an  un- 
comfortable task  to  put  into  the  dangerous 
black  and  white  of  diplomatic  instructions  all 
which  the  President  wished  to  say.  He  accord- 
ingly bethought  him  of  Monroe,  whose  term  as 
Governor  of  Virginia  had  just  expired,  and  on 
February  11,  1803,  nominated  that  gentleman 
envoy-extraordinary  to  France.  The  nomiqa- 
tion  was  promptly  confirmed,  in  spite  of  the 
malicious  suggestion  of  the  Federalists,  who 
averred  that  it  was  made  only  to  provide  a 
place  for  a  personal  and  political  friend,  who 
was  in  financial  difficulties.  In  sundry  inter- 
views with  Jefferson,  Monroe  became  fully  in- 
formed as  to  the  President's  projects,  and  de- 
parted on  his  delicate  errand  apparently  without 
a  word  in  writing  upon  which  he  could  rely, 
should  his  principal  choose  later  to  disavow  his 
doings.  But  Jefferson's  friends  always  trusted 
him. 

At  this  same  point  in  the  business  Jefferson 


244  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

manifested  a  mercantile  cleverness  of  which 
any  tradesman  might  have  been  proud.  He 
wrote  to  Dupont  de  Nemours,  urging  him  to 
smooth  the  way  towards  settlement,  and  throw- 
ing out  divers  shrewd  suggestions :  — 

"  Our  circumstances  are  so  imperious  as  to  admit 
of  no  delay  as  to  our  course ;  and  the  use  of  the 
Mississippi  is  so  indispensable  that  we  cannot  hesi- 
tate one  moment  to  hazard  our  existence  for  its  main- 
tenance." This  for  a  timely  hint  of  the  "  dernier 
ressort."  Then  he  adds :  "  It  may  be  said,  if  this 
object  be  so  all-important  to  us,  why  do  we  not  offer 
such  a  sum  as  to  insure  its  purchase  ?  The  answer 
is  simple.  We  are  an  agricultural  people,  poor  in 
money  and  owing  great  debts.  These  will  be  falling 
due  by  instalments  for  fifteen  years  to  come,  and 
require  from  us  the  practice  of  a  rigorous  economy 
to  accomplish  their  payment ;  and  it  is  our  principle 
to  pay  to  a  moment  whatever  we  have  engaged, 
and  never  to  engage  what  we  cannot  and  mean  not 
faithfully  to  pay.  We  have  calculated  our  resources, 
and  find  the  sum  to  be  moderate  which  they  would 
enable  us  to  pay,  and  we  know  from  late  trials  that 
little  can  be  added  to  it  by  borrowing.  The  country, 
too,  which  we  wish  to  purchase,  ...  is  a  barren 
sand.  .  .  .  We  cannot,  then,  make  anything  by  a 
sale  of  the  land  to  individuals.  So  that  it  is  peace 
alone  which  makes  it  an  object  with  us,  and  which 
ought  to  make  the  cession  of  it  desirable  to  France." 

Could  a  Jew  or  an  attorney  drive  a  bargain 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  245 

more  skilfully  ?  A  willing  but  very  poor  pur- 
chaser, absolutely  sure  to  pay  his  notes  at  ma- 
turity, shunning  discord  rather  than  seeking 
profit ;  indirect  but  valuable  advantages  to  ac- 
crue to  the  seller  from  the  sale,  in  addition  to 
the  price ;  an  unmarketable  piece  of  property  ; 
a  misty  vision  of  war  in  the  background !  Yet, 
in  spite  of  such  plausible  persuasions,  it  is  not 
probable  that  Monroe  would  have  had  much 
success  in  his  negotiations,  had  not  European 
politics  come  opportunely  to  his  aid.  Napoleon, 
who  already  exercised  the  powers  of  an  em- 
peror under  the  title  of  First  Consul,  had  set 
his  heart  upon  establishing  a  great  French  col- 
ony on  the  North  American  continent.  Under 
this  impulse  he  had  laughed  to  scorn  the  first 
proposals  for  a  purchase  of  his  territory.  It 
would  have  been  easier  for  Monroe  to  buy  up 
his  advisers  than  for  those  advisers  to  induce 
him  to  abandon  a  favorite  whim.  Neither  was 
there  much  use  in  threatening  the  conqueror 
of  Europe  with  the  wrath  of  our  trans-Alle- 
ghanian  population.  But  as  Jefferson's  usual 
good  fortune  arranged  it,  by  the  time  Monroe 
arrived  the  short-lived  peace  of  Amiens  was 
obviously  about  to  be  broken.  On  the  verge  of 
extensive  military  operations  Napoleon  forgot 
his  colonial  schemes.  In  the  contemplation  of 
a  hungry  treasury  he  became  as  eager  to  sell 


246  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

as  the  envoys  were  to  buy.  Monroe's  instruc- 
tions had  contemplated  only  a  moderate  pur- 
chase, of  the  island  and  some  land  upon  the 
easterly  side  of  the  river,  nothing  more  being 
thought  possible.  But  Napoleon's  notion  now 
was  to  tarn  his  most  available  assets  into  money 
with  all  speed.  He  intimated  that  he  would 
sell  all  Louisiana.  He  asked,  indeed,  a  great 
price ;  but  where  both  parties  are  eager,  trading 
is  usually  rapid.  Monroe  had  gauged  Jeffer- 
son's views  with  perfect  accuracy,  and  felt  no 
fear.  In  a  few  days  he  and  Livingston  closed 
the  bargain,  buying  Louisiana  outright  for  sixty 
million  livres,  with  the  stipulation  that  the 
United  States  should  pay  sundry  claims  of  its 
merchants  against  France  to  the  amount  of 
twenty  million  livres  more,  and  that  certain 
privileges  should  be  allowed  to  French  and 
Spanish  vessels  in  the  port  of  New  Orleans  for 
twelve  years  to  come. 

In  their  dispatches,  communicating  this 
treaty,  the  envoys  acknowledged  that  they  had 
exceeded  their  instructions,  and  humbly  hoped 
that  they  had  not  erred.  This  was  literally 
true,  but  it  was  only  the  letter  not  the  spirit  of 
their  instructions  which  had  been  overstepped. 
Monroe  well  knew  that  he  had  only  fulfilled 
Jefferson's  real  wishes.  But  since  this  was  not 
apparent  on  the  surface,  the  Federalists  after- 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  247 

ward  pretended  to  regard  these  professions  of 
the  negotiators  as  indicating  that  any  credit 
there  might  be  in  the  purchase  was  due  to  them 
rather  than  to  the  President.  This,  however, 
was  an  unfair  artifice,  which  at  best  could 
amount  to  nothing  more  than  saying  that  the 
presidential  policy  had  succeeded  even  beyond 
the  hopes  of  its  projector.  The  entire  credit 
—  or  discredit,  if  such  there  were  —  of  the 
achievement  belonged  exclusively  to  Jefferson. 

Of  course  fault-finding  began  at  once.  No 
great  ingenuity  was  needed  on  the  part  of  the 
opposition  to  devise  the  gravest  objections  to 
the  transaction  both  as  a  whole  and  in  detail. 
The  government  was  without  constitutional  au- 
thority to  make  the  purchase  upon  terms  which 
substantially  involved  the  speedy  admission  of 
the  purchased  territory,  in  the  shape  of  new 
States,  to  the  Union.  It  was  directly  contrary 
to  the  Constitution  to  grant  peculiar  privileges 
in  the  port  of  New  Orleans  to  Spanish  and 
French  commerce.  The  boundaries  of  Louisi- 
ana, both  upon  the  east  and  upon  the  west, 
were  in  dispute,  and  in  time  would  probably 
have  to  be  settled  by  a  war.  Spain  had  insisted 
as  a  condition  of  her  own  transfer  that  France 
should  not  sell ;  Spain  was  still  in  possession 
and  might  now  well  be  expected  to  decline  to 
part  with  the  property.  These  criticisms  each 


248  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

and  all  were  perfectly  true  ;  yet  they  were 
certainly  each  and  all  of  very  little  conse- 
quence, when  set  against  an  acquisition  so  enor- 
mously valuable  in  so  many  different  ways  to 
the  United  States.  The  practical  objections 
Jefferson  met  by  practical  suggestions.  The 
boundaries  were  doubtful,  but  boundaries  in 
wild  lands  constantly  remain  doubtful  for  many 
years  without  engendering  serious  hostilities. 
In  this  interval,  the  natural  growth  of  the 
United  States  and  the  inevitable  decadence  of 
Spain  upon  this  continent  would  ultimately  in- 
sure a  peaceful  yielding  to  American  demands. 
A  little  later  he  proposed,  in  pursuance  of  this 
view,  that  the  government  should  offer  bounties 
to  attract  a  large  body  of  vigorous  and  intelli- 
gent American  colonists  into  Louisiana,  to  the 
end  that  a  population  of  such  numbers,  char- 
acter, and  national  sympathies  should  be  estab- 
lished in  that  quarter  as  would  discourage 
contumacious  neighbors.  It  would  have  been 
better,  some  said,  to  have  bought  the  Floridas 
rather  than  Louisiana.  But  could  not  another 
purchase  be  made?  The  American  claims  of 
boundary 

*  will  be  a  subject  of  negotiation  with  Spain,  and 
if,  as  soon  as  she  is  at  war,  we  push  them  strongly 
with  one  hand,  holding  out  a  price  in  the  other,  we 
shall  certainly  obtain  the  Floridas,  and  all  in  good 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  249 

time.  .  .  .  Propositions  are  made  to  exchange  Lou- 
isiana, or  a  part  of  it,  for  the  Floridas.  But,  as  I 
have  said,  we  shall  get  the  Floridas  without ;  and  I 
would  not  give  one  inch  of  the  waters  of  the  Missis- 
sippi to  any  nation,  because  I  see  in  a  light  very 
important  to  our  peace  the  exclusive  right  to  its 
navigation,  and  the  admission  of  no  nation  into  it 
but  as  into  the  Potomac  or  Delaware,  with  our  con- 
sent and  under  our  police." 

Time  proved  the  perfect  truth  of  all  this. 

As  for  the  chance  of  Spain  refusing  to  de- 
liver possession  to  the  United  States,  Jefferson 
intended  to  have  no  trifling  in  that  matter. 
So  soon  as  the  treaty  was  ratified  he 

"  sent  off  orders  to  the  Governor  of  the  Mississippi 
territory  and  General  Wilkinson  to  move  down  with 
the  troops  at  hand  to  New  Orleans,  and  receive  pos- 
session from  M.  Laussat.  If  he  is  heartily  disposed 
to  carry  the  order  of  the  Consul  into  execution,  he 
can  probably  command  a  volunteer  force  at  New 
Orleans,  and  will  have  the  aid  of  ours  also,  if  he 
desires  it,  to  take  the  possession  and  deliver  it  to  us. 
If  he  is  not  so  disposed,  we  shall  take  the  possession, 
and  it  will  rest  with  the  government  of  France  by 
adopting  the  act  as  their  own  and  obtaining  the  con- 
firmation of  Spain,  to  supply  the  non-execution  of 
their  agreement  to  deliver  and  to  entitle  themselves 
to  the  complete  execution  of  our  part  of  the  agree- 
ments." 


250  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

For  the  other  objections  of  law  and  theory, 
Jefferson  was  inclined  to  override  them  very 
cavalierly.  In  truth  it  was  the  only  way.  It 
was  not  worth  while  to  enter  into  a  debate,  pre- 
destined to  obvious  defeat,  nor  to  engage  in  ar- 
gument when  the  whole  weight  of  logic  rested 
with  the  other  side.  The  prompt  vote  of  a 
silent  majority  was  the  best  policy.  "  The 
less  that  is  said  about  any  constitutional  diffi- 
culty, the  better ;  ...  it  will  be  desirable  for 
Congress  to  do  what  is  necessary  in  silence.'* 
"  Whatever  Congress  shall  think  it  necessary  to 
do,  should  be  done  with  as  little  debate  as  pos- 
sible, and  particularly  so  far  as  respects  the 
constitutional  difficulty."  Thus  Jefferson  wrote. 
The  opposition,  on  the  other  hand,  tried  hard  to 
force  a  prolonged  discussion,  but  with  slender 
effect.  The  outnumbering  administrationists 
cared  not  to  hear  long  lectures,  designed  to 
show  only  that  a  wise  act,  which  they  had  al- 
ready determined  to  do,  was  against  the  law. 
So  the  Federalist  speeches,  though  calling  forth 
only  a  few  replies  and  certainly  no  answers, 
went  for  nothing.  In  the  Senate  a  powerful 
and  delighted  Republican  majority  hastened  to 
ratify  the  treaty  by  a  vote  of  twenty-four  to 
seven,  —  ten  votes  more  than  were  necessary, 
as  Jefferson  triumphantly  noted.  In  the  House 
of  Representatives  the  overwhelming  ranks  of 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  251 

the  same  party,  under  the  spirited  leadership 
of  Randolph,  first  made  the  necessary  appro- 
priations, and  then  provided  temporarily  for  the 
government  of  the  territory  by  the  President, 
even  giving  him  for  the  time  all  the  powers 
of  the  late  Spanish  monarchs,  an  odd  position 
for  Jefferson  truly,  but  which  he  did  not  reject. 
Thus  did  Jefferson  accomplish  a  most  mo- 
mentous transaction  in  direct  contravention  of 
all  those  grand  principles  which  for  many  years 
he  had  been  eloquently  preaching  as  the  po- 
litical faith  of  the  great  party  which  he  had 
formed  and  led.  What  henceforth  could  he 
and  his  followers  say  about  Washington's  aris- 
tocratic ceremonial  at  his  levees ;  what  about 
Hamilton's  establishment  of  a  United  States 
Bank ;  what  about  all  the  alleged  twistings 
and  wrenchings  of  the  Constitution  by  the  free- 
constructionists  and  the  "monarchists"?  Here 
was  an  act,  done  by  the  great  Republican  doc- 
trinaire-president, utterly  beyond  the  Constitu- 
tion in  substance  and  contrary  to  it  in  detail; 
monarchical,  beyond  what  any  "  monocrat " 
had  ever  dared  to  dream  of.  There  was  no 
denying  these  facts,  at  least  without  self-stulti- 
fication. John  Randolph,  dictating  to  his  great 
majority  in  the  House,  became  ridiculous  when 
he  endeavored  to  reconcile  the  treaty  with  the 
organic  charter  of  the  United  States.  The 


252  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

plain  truth  was  that  Jefferson  had  simply  shat- 
tered into  fragments  his  previous  theories,  and 
every  one  in  the  United  States  saw  and  knew 
it.  In  August,  1800,  he  had  declared  that  "  the 
true  theory  of  our  Constitution  is  surely  the 
wisest  and  best :  that  the  States  are  independ- 
ent as  to  everything  within  themselves,  and 
united  as  to  everything  respecting  foreign  na- 
tions." By  this  theory  "  our  general  govern- 
ment may  be  reduced  to  a  very  simple  organi- 
zation and  a  very  inexpensive  one  ;  a  few  plain 
duties  to  be  performed  by  a  few  servants." 
The  doctrine  of  a  simple  league  of  independent 
powers,  devised  only  for  the  specific  purpose  of 
foreign  intercourse,  could  not  have  been  better 
set  forth.  Yet  it  was  hardly  possible  to  imag- 
ine a  transaction  more  at  variance  with  the 
principle  of  such  a  league  than  was  this  pur- 
chase of  an  enormous  property  for  the  common 
tenancy  and  at  the  common  charge  of  the  po- 
litical partnership.  It  produced  a  welding  and 
unifying  of  domestic  interests  to  as  great  an 
extent  as  an  isolated  act  could  do. 

Still  more  surprising  is  it  to  remember  that 
Jefferson  was  the  chief  expositor  of  states' 
rights.  He  declares  them  in  the  foregoing  sen- 
tences ;  he  had  declared  them  again  and  again, 
in  public  and  private,  directly  and  indirectly. 
He  was  the  author  of  the  Kentucky  resolutions. 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  253 

But  the  justification  upon  which  he  had  relied 
to  sustain  nullification  and  secession  by  Ken- 
tucky was  as  nothing  compared  to  the  justifica- 
tion which  he  himself,  by  this  purchase,  now 
created  for  nullification  and  secession  on  the 
part  of  the  dissatisfied  Eastern  States.  The 
Constitution,  he  had  always  insisted,  was  a  con- 
tract between  independent  parties,  not  binding 
upon  any  one  of  them  beyond  its  distinct  stipu- 
lations. It  was  not  among  those  stipulations 
that  a  majority  might  purchase  new  territory, 
and  out  of  it  create  and  admit  new  parties  to 
the  contract.  It  was  the  inevitable  outcome  of 
his  own  logic  that  any  State  might  now  law- 
fully withdraw  from  the  league  upon  this  op- 
portunity which  he  himself  had  furnished. 

Yet  by  a  singular  inconsistency,  which,  per- 
haps, he  did  not  appreciate,  he  managed  to 
reiterate  his  old  principles,  even  while  he  stood 
among  the  very  ruins  into  which  he  had  pros- 
trated them.  He  actually  seized  this  extraor- 
dinary moment  for  an  extreme  assertion  of  the 
doctrine  of  states'  rights,  accompanied  by  some 
of  that  mawkish  sentimentality  and  political 
rubbish  which  so  constantly  excito  a  revulsion 
of  feeling  when  one  most  wishes  to  admire  him. 
The  Federalists,  he  says,  "  see  in  this  acquisi- 
tion the  formation  of  a  new  Confederacy,  em- 
bracing all  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  on 


254  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

both  sides  of  it,  and  a  separation  of  its  east- 
ern waters  from  us."  This  result  he  thinks 
improbable.  But  the  possibility  of  its  happen- 
ing does  not  appear  to  him  an  argument  against 
that  purchase  which  may  promote  it.  For 
"the  future  inhabitants  of  the  Atlantic  and 
Mississippi  States  will  be  our  sons.  We  leave 
them  in  distinct  but  bordering  establishments; 
we  think  we  see  their  happiness  in  their  union, 
and  we  wish  it.  Events  may  prove  it  other- 
wise; and  if  they  see  their  interest  in  separa- 
tion, why  should  we  take  sides  with  our  Atlan- 
tic rather  than  our  Mississippi  descendants  ? 
It  is  the  elder  and  the  younger  son  differing. 
God  bless  them  both,  and  keep  them  in  union, 
if  it  be  for  their  good,  but  separate  them  if  it 
be  better."  This  is  the  piety  of  states'  rights 
and  the  statesmanship  of  secession,  very  plausi- 
bly put  under  the  peculiar  circumstances.  He 
reiterated  it  again  with  something  less  of  holi- 
ness in  his  language  about  six  months  later. 
"  Whether  we  remain  one  confederacy,  or  form 
into  Atlantic  and  Mississippi  confederacies,  I 
believe  not  very  important  to  the  happiness  of 
either  part.  Those  of  the  western  confederacy 
will  be  as  much  our  children  and  descendants 
as  those  of  the  eastern,"  etc.  It  is  inevitable 
that  one  pauses  a  moment  to  speculate  upon 
the  problem,  what  gospel  Jefferson  would  have 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  255 

had  to  preach  to  the  people  in  1861.  Would 
he  have  been  among  those  whose  text  was  "  Let 
them  go  in  peace "  ?  Probably  not,  for  he 
would  have  preferred  inconsistency  to  unpopu- 
larity. 

Yet  these  matters  of  argument  and  logic, 
theory  and  consistency,  may  easily  be  dwelt 
upon  unfairly.  For  every  one  must  admit  that 
the  government  ought  to  have  bought  Louis- 
iana, and  must  equally  admit  that  the  propriety 
of  the  purchase  did  not  alone  suffice  to  annihi- 
late all  those  broad  political  theories  of  the  Re- 
publican party  which  would  have  forbidden  it. 
It  was  simply  a  proper  case  for  breaking,  with- 
out discrediting,  a  rule,  a  case  which  will  occur 
under  any  and  all  rules.  So  far  as  Jefferson 
personally  was  concerned,  Destiny,  that  goddess 
who  loves  nothing  so  much  as  irony,  had  led 
him  to  the  point  to  which  she  so  often  leads 
the  profoundest  statesmen  and  the  wisest  phi- 
losophers, the  point  where  the  choice  must  be 
made  betwixt  a  sound  abstract  doctrine  and 
a  sensible  act  inconsistent  therewith.  In  the 
dilemma  Jefferson  did  what  all  really  great 
statesmen  and  philosophers  always  have  done, 
and  always  will  do  in  such  an  emergency ;  he 
turned  his  back  upon  the  doctrine  and  did  the 
act.  He  preferred  sound  sense  to  sound  logic, 
and  set  intelligent  statesmanship  above  political 


256  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

consistency.  Of  course  he  laid  himself  open  to 
reproach  and  ridicule.  Throughout  the  coun- 
try every  Federalist  throat  sent  forth  a  howl  of 
abuse  against  the  democrat  who  had  turned  au- 
tocrat ;  every  Federalist  finger  was  pointed  in 
scorn  at  the  strict  constructionist  who,  in  an  in- 
stant, had  thrown  overboard  the  whole  Consti- 
tution. But  Jefferson  bore  these  taunts  with 
much  tranquillity.  He  could  afford  to  do  so. 
If  his  political  philosophy  had  become  some- 
what emaciated  beneath  the  severe  treatment 
to  which  he  had  subjected  it,  his  popularity  as 
a  statesman  had  waxed  hugely  fat  upon  the 
same  food.  "  The  treaty,"  he  said,  "  has  ob- 
tained nearly  general  approbation.  The  Fed- 
eralists spoke  and  voted  against  it;  but  they 
are  now  so  reduced  in  their  numbers  as  to  be 
nothing."  Yet  he  behaved  really  very  well 
He  did  not  try  to  carry  off  his  lawlessness  with 
a  high  hand,  as  the  applause  of  the  people 
might  have  tempted  and  enabled  him  to  do. 
He  did  not  endeavor  to  put  upon  the  transac- 
tion any  sophistical  gloss,  which  his  dialectic 
cleverness  would  have  made  easy  for  him,  espe- 
cially in  the  presence  of  a  well-disposed  audi- 
ence. But  he  frankly  acknowledged  that  the 
necessities  of  the  case  had  compelled  him  to  do 
what  was  unlawful.  Abjuring  such  sophistries 
as  the  admimstrationists  in  Congress  had  put 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  257 

forth,  he  honestly  said,  even  while  the  matter 
•was  still  pending :  — 

"  The  Constitution  has  made  no  provision  for  our 
holding  foreign  territory,  still  less  for  incorporating 
foreign  nations  into  our  Union.  The  Executive,  in 
seizing  the  fugitive  occurrence  which  so  much  ad- 
vances the  good  of  their  country,  have  done  an  act 
beyond  the  Constitution.  The  Legislature,  in  cast- 
ing behind  them  metaphysical  subtleties,  and  risking 
themselves  like  faithful  servants,  must  ratify  and  pay 
for  it,  and  throw  themselves  on  their  country  for  do- 
ing for  them  unauthorized,  what  we  know  they  would 
have  done  for  themselves  had  they  been  in  a  situa- 
tion to  do  it." 

Loath  to  leave  his  justification  solely  to  the 
wisdom  of  his  act,  he  desired  to  be  put,  techni- 
cally, in  as  sound  a  position  as  possible.  To 
this  end  he  was  very  anxious  that  there  should 
be  a  formal  ratification  by  the  people  in  ihe 
shape  of  a  constitutional  amendment.  He  even 
drew  up  one,  and  intimated  to  his  friends  in  the 
cabinet  and  in  Congress  that  be  hoped  to  see  it 
put  upon  its  passage.  They  were  less  scrupu- 
lous than  he,  and  would  not  concern  themselves 
much  about  it,  so  that  it  was  allowed  to  drop. 
Perhaps  lie  was  not  so  urgent  in  pushing  the 
scheme  as  he  might  have  been  ;  but  at  least  he 
did  not  disguise  his  opinions  and  his  wishes, 
which  were  undeniably  correct  and  becoming. 
17 


258  THOMAS  JEFFERSON: 

Yet  it  may  be  said  that  in  a  certain  way  Jef- 
ferson had  been  true  to  his  fundamental  and 
grandest  principles,  even  in  breaking  those 
which  were  in  a  sense  secondary.  He  believed 
primarily  in  the  will  of  the  people,  and  sought 
primarily  the  good  of  the  people.  The  Consti- 
tution commanded  his  respect,  because  it  for- 
mally expressed  that  will  and  substantially  ad- 
vanced that  good.  In  a  peculiar  crisis,  where 
this  written  law  seemed  to  lose  these  distinctive 
characteristics,  it  seemed  also  for  the  time  to 
lose  much  of  its  title  to  obedience.  It  was  true 
he  had  no  technical  or  definite  expression  of 
the  people's  will,  but  it  would  have  been  absurd 
to  pretend  to  doubt  that  he  executed  that  will 
in  acquiring  Louisiana  upon  favorable  terms, 
by,  against,  or  outside  of  the  Constitution.  If 
the  necessary  constitutional  amendment  could 
have  been  made  by  an  immediate  popular  vote, 
it  would  have  been  accomplished  in  a  week. 
This  is  a  hazardous  doctrine,  and  so  was  Jef- 
ferson's action,  though  right,  a  dangerous 
precedent.  But  certainly  the  history  of  the 
transaction  puts  it  beyond  a  question  that  the 
statesman  predominated  over  the  doctrinaire  in 
his  composition,  though  his  enemies  to  this  day 
assert  the  contrary. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TEEM.  —  IMPEACHMENTS. 
—  REELECTION. 

JEFFERSON'S  personal  animosities  were  few. 
They  were  limited  to  the  small  body  of  sup- 
posed "  monocrats,"  the  New  England  clergy, 
and  the  Federalist  judges  in  the  courts  of  the 
United  States.  In  all  his  preachings  of  uni- 
versal benevolence  and  political  brotherhood 
there  must  be  understood  a  tacit  reservation 
against  these  three  classes  of  the  community. 
Of  these  the  judges  presented  the  most  definite 
mark.  It  has  already  been  seen  how  he  felt 
about  the  exclusive  possession  of  the  courts  by 
the  Federalists.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he 
wished,  if  he  could  not  effect  a  radical  change 
in  the  judicial  personnel,  at  least  to  give  an 
impressive  lesson  to  the  life-tenants  of  the 
benches.  His  first  experiment  was  certainly 
made  in  corpora  vili.  He  sent  to  the  Represen- 
tatives a  special  message  concerning  the  short- 
comings and  vices  of  Pickering  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, judge  of  the  District  Court,  a  worthless 
fellow  morally  and  mentally.  Pickering  was 


260  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

at  once  impeached  before  the  Senate  by  order 
of  the  House,  was  found  guilty  and  removed, 
the  Federalist  senators  doing  themselves  little 
credit  by  voting  in  favor  of  so  wretched  a  crea- 
ture. 

But  this  was  only  light  practising;  much 
higher  game  was  aimed  at  in  the  person  of 
Judge  Chase  of  Maryland,  a  justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court.  He  was  of  unquestioned  integ- 
rity and  ability  ;  but  he  was  a  Federalist  of 
the  extreme  type,  and  found  it  as  impossible  to 
keep  his  Federalism  out  of  his  charges  to  juries 
as  Copperfield  says  that  Mr.  Dick  did  to  keep 
King  Charles'  head  out  of  his  memorials.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  he  erred  gravely  in  this  partic- 
ular, and  used  his  judicial  position  in  a  manner 
improper  even  in  those  times,  and  which  in  our 
day  would  be  deemed  intolerable.  That  he 
was  ever  led  to  the  commission  of  an  actual  in- 
justice does  not  appear;  and  whether  his  of- 
fences against  official  decorum,  when  they  could 
not  be  proved  ever  to  have  resulted  in  practical 
wrong,  ought  to  have  been  regarded  as  ground 
for  impeachment  was  at  best  doubtful.  But 
Jefferson  and  his  friends  resolved  to  make  the 
trial ;  in  addition  to  the  political  advantage 
which  success  might  bring  them,  they  were  in- 
censed against  Chase  personally,  by  reason  of 
a  speech  which  he  had  lately  delivered  to  the 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  261 

grand  jury,  wherein  he  had  very  soundly  be- 
rated the  Democratic  party  for  having  repealed 
the  Judiciary  Act.  However  unjustifiable  this 
tirade  was,  yet  it  made  a  narrow  foundation  for 
an  impeachment.  Other  charges  were  there- 
fore sought,  and  the  Republican  managers  went 
back  nearly  five  years  to  the  trials  of  Fries 
and  of  Callender,  at  which  Chase  had  certainly 
shown  his  political  bias  in  a  manner  deserving 
of  reprehension.  But  these  were  old  stories, 
and  if  they  were  so  heinous  as  was  now  alleged, 
at  least  it  followed  that  the  Republicans  had 
been  guilty  of  gross  laches  in  not  having  long 
since  made  them  the  basis  of  proceedings  for  re- 
moval. Attaching  them  to  the  later  causes  of 
complaint  constituted  a  virtual  acknowledgment 
of  the  insufficiency  of  these  later  causes  when 
taken  by  themselves.  Nor  was  there  any  ob- 
ject in  gathering  together  many  improprieties, 
all  which  in  conjunction  might  suffice  to  show, 
in  a  general  way,  that  tho  judge  was  unfit  for 
his  office.  For  the  question  which  the  Senate 
must  decide  was  not,  whether  upon  the  whole 
Chase  was  fit  or  unfit  for  his  judicial  posi- 
tion ;  but  whether  upon  any  one  of  the  spe- 
cific charges  of  the  impeachment  the  evidence 
showed  him  to  be  a  guilty  man. 

Jefferson's  behavior  in  this  affair  was  shrewd 
and  selfish.     The  end  which  he  desired  to  at- 


262  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

tain  was  so  desirable  that  even  a  small  prospect 
of  success  justified  the  endeavor.  But  a  de- 
feat would  bring  so  much  condemnation  on  the 
losers,  and  there  was  so  much  chance  of  defeat, 
that  he  had  no  notion  of  subjecting  his  own 
person  and  fortunes  to  the  risk.  Perhaps  he 
felt  about  his  prestige  in  politics  as  great  gen- 
erals are  entitled  to  feel  about  their  own  lives 
in  battle,  that  it  was  too  valuable  to  his  party 
to  be  jeoparded.  Certain  it  is  that  he  played 
only  the  part  of  an  instigator.  He  did  not  send 
in  a  message,  as  in  the  more  clear  and  wholly 
unimportant  case  of  Pickering.  But  his  faith- 
ful henchman,  the  hot-headed  Randolph,  equally 
devoid  of  caution  and  of  judgment,  stood  ready 
at  a  word  from  the  chief  to  plunge  into  any 
dubious  fray.  The  signal  was  given  to  him 
May  13,  1803,  through  Nicholas,  who  was  Ran- 
dolph's personal  friend,  and  acted  as  his  chief 
of  staff  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  To 
this  gentleman  Jefferson  wrote :  "  You  must 
have  heard  of  the  extraordinary  charge  of 
Chase  to  the  grand  jury  at  Baltimore.  Ought 
this  seditious  and  official  attack  on  the  princi- 
ples of  our  Constitution  and  on  the  proceed- 
ings of  a  State  to  go  unpunished?  And  to 
whom  so  pointedly  as  yourself  will  the  public 
look  for  the  necessary  measures  ?  I  ask  these 
questions  for  your  consideration  ;  for  myself  it 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  263 

is  better  that  I  should  not  interfere."  Accord- 
ingly to  the  end  he  did  not  interfere  ;  he  only 
watched  with  profound  interest.  But  he  had 
the  disappointment  to  see  the  veteran  judge, 
aided  by  the  ablest  counsel  in  the  country, 
prove  altogether  too  much  for  Randolph.  As 
the  cause  proceeded,  he  was  compelled  to  recog- 
nize that  only  the  most  merciless  use  of  the 
party  whip  could  dragoon  the  requisite  two 
thirds  of  the  senators  into  sustaining  the  im- 
peachment ;  and  he  dared  not  exert  his  influ- 
ence in  a  cause  which  it  would  be  so  difficult  to 
justify.  In  silent  chagrin  he  averted  his  coun- 
tenance, while  Randolph  met  a  severe  defeat 
after  a  very  bitter  contest.  The  administra- 
tion party  was  worsted,  but  its  astute  leader 
had  been  externally  so  indifferent  that  he  was 
not  compromised  in  the  popular  opinion  by  the 
blunder  of  his  friends.  But  he  had  learned  the 
lesson  and  made  no  further  attempts  to  meddle 
with  the  bench.  It  remained  to  the  end  an 
immovable  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  complete 
triumph  of  his  political  theories. 

Jefferson's  first  term  in  the  presidency  was 
a  great  success.  This  was  not  so  much  due 
to  what  he  had  really  done  as  to  what  he  ap- 
peared to  have  done.  For  in  fact  no  funda- 
mental changes  had  been  made  in  the  system 
of  administering  the  national  affairs.  A  differ- 


264  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ent  atmosphere  prevailed  at  the  capital,  but  it 
Lad  affected  rather  the  external  aspect  than 
the  inner  constitution  of  the  government.  The 
•work  of  the  Federalist  party  had  not  been  un- 
done in  a  single  particular  of  any  importance. 
A  certain  relaxation  was  discernible,  a  certain 
air  of  carelessness ;  but  except  for  the  hostility 
to  the  army  and  navy  little  practical  result  was 
observable.  All  the  great  constructive  meas- 
ures of  that  party  remained  unaltered  ;  the  gov- 
ernmental machinery  which  it  had  devised  was 
worked  by  the  new  hands  much  as  it  had  been 
by  the  old  ones.  In  any  matters  of  substantial 
importance  there  was  very  little  more  real  de- 
mocracy under  the  sway  of  the  Democrats  than 
there  had  been  under  that  of  the  Federalists. 
The  democrat  Jefferson  enjoyed  and  exercised 
a  personal  authority  infinitely  greater  than  had 
been  wielded  by  the  "  monocrat  "  Adams.  In- 
deed, even  to  this  day  no  President  since  Wash- 
ington has  ever  been  able  to  dictate  to  Congress 
as  Jefferson  could  do,  and  upon  sufficient  occa- 
sion actually  did.  No  President  since  Wash- 
ington has  ever  led  the  people  in  such  unques- 
tioning obedience.  But  these  facts  were  not 
clearly  recognized  at  the  time.  Congress  did 
not  appreciate  that  it  was  receiving  orders  ;  the 
people  had  not  the  slightest  notion  that  they 
were  being  guided.  For  Jefferson  never  used 


PRESIDENT:   FIRST  TERM.  265 

the  accent  of  command  or  assumed  the  bear- 
ing of  a  leader.  His  influence  was  singularly 
shadowy  and  mysterious.  He  simply  commu- 
nicated suggestions  and  opinions  to  this  or  that 
selected  one  among  those  who  believed  in  him. 
The  suggestions  and  opinions  were  followed  not 
with  any  consciousness  of  discipline,  but  from 
a  true  feeling  of  admiration  and  confidence 
towards  the  great  and  good  statesman  who 
seemed  always  to  speak  wisely  and  to  think 
virtuously  ;  who,  at  least,  had  many  times  been 
proved  to  plan  with  unrivalled  astuteness  for 
the  good  of  his  party.  That  party  had  already 
begun  to  abjure  the  name  of  Republicans  in 
order  to  adopt  exclusively  that  of  Democrats  ? 
the  title  has  ever  since  been  kept,  and  the  iden- 
tity of  the  party  has  been  preserved,  while  its 
political  opponents  have  had  a  variety  of  appel- 
lations and  have  undergone  some  breaks  in  con- 
tinuity, if  not  some  mutations  of  principle.  But 
it  is  a  singular  circumstance  that  the  body  which 
has  chosen  to  declare  itself  the  guardian  of  demo- 
cratic principles  has  always  from  the  outset 
been  peculiarly  prone  to  fall  beneath  the  dicta- 
tion of  a  single  individual.  No  leader  among 
the  Federalists,  the  Whigs,  or  the  Republicans 
(the  present  party  of  that  name)  has  ever  had 
a  personal  supremacy  equal  to  that  of  Jeffer- 
son or  that  of  Andrew  Jackson.  The  Demo- 


266  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

crats  have  invariably  been  most  powerful  under 
the  sway  of  a  monocrat,  and  have  always  taken 
kindly  to  that  sway. 

Jefferson  was  able  from  time  to  time  in  his 
first  four  years  to  make  a  very  good  showing  in 
those  matters  of  detail  which  were  much  more 
definite  and  obvious  than  were  the  generalities 
of  political  theories.  Thus  every  one  could  see 
that  he  dressed  with  ostentatious  shabbiness  on 
occasions  when  dress  was  likely  to  be  noticed  ; 
every  one  knew  that  the  monarchical  levees  of 
Washington  and  Adams  were  discontinued.  It 
was  also  well  known  that  the  army  had  been 
subjected  to  such  a  "  chaste  reformation  "  that 
the  smallest  remnant  only  remained.  The  Fed- 
eralists allowed  no  one  to  forget  that  the  har- 
bors were  not  properly  fortified,  and  that  the 
navy  was  not  kept  up  as  it  should  be.  Like 
economies  were  practised  in  all  other  depart- 
ments. When  the  odious  internal  taxes  were 
done  away  with,  and  even  without  them  the 
treasury  prospered  wonderfully  and  reduced 
the  national  debt  with  surprising  rapidity,  the 
credit  for  these  achievements  was  given  to  the 
economy  of  the  administration  and  to  its  able 
financial  management.  Really  more  efficient 
causes  were  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the 
country  and  the  soundness  of  the  financial  pol- 
icy which  Hamilton  had  inaugurated.  But  Jef- 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  267 

ferson  would  have  been  more  than  a  Quixote 
in  politics  had  he  frankly  admitted  that  he  was 
only  reaping  the  fields  which  Hamilton  had 
sowed.  In  like  manner  the  freedom  from  anx- 
iety about  European  complications  was  alto- 
gether due  to  causes  entirely  beyond  the  reach 
of  Jefferson's  influence.  But  fortune  had  be- 
come his  friend  more  than  ever  before,  and 
everything  redounded  to  his  good  fame  and 
popularity.1  The  nation  did  not  concern  itself 
too  critically  with  the  connections  of  cause  and 
effect,  but  feeling  very  comfortable  and  good- 
natured  amid  the  broad  visible  facts  of  the 
passing  time,  gave  credit  for  the  condition  of 

1  Jefferson  did  not  hesitate  to  claim  credit  for  all  that  he 
plausibly  could.  In  April,  1802,  he  wrote  :  "  The  session  of 
the  first  Congress  convened  since  Republicanism  has  recov- 
ered its  ascendency  is  now  drawing  to  a  close.  They  will 
pretty  completely  fulfil  all  the  desires  of  the  people.  They 
have  reduced  the  army  and  navy  to  what  is  barely  necessary 
They  are  disarming  executive  patronage  and  preponderance 
by  putting  down  one  half  the  offices  of  the  United  States 
which  are  no  longer  necessary.  These  economies  have  en- 
abled them  to  suppress  all  the  internal  taxes,  and  still  to 
make  such  provision  for  the  payment  of  their  public  debt  as 
to  discharge  that  in  eighteen  years.  They  have  lopped  off  a 
parasite  limb,  planted  by  their  predecessors  on  their  judici- 
ary body  for  party  purposes ;  they  are  opening  the  doors  of 
hospitality  to  fugitives  from  the  oppression  of  other  countries; 
and  we  have  suppressed  all  those  public  forms  and  ceremonies 
which  tended  to  familiarize  the  public  eye  to  the  harbingers 
of  another  form  of  government.  The  people  are  nearly  all 
united." 


268  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

affairs  to  the  rulers  for  the  time  being.  Had 
not  Jefferson  always  preached  economy,  and  re- 
viled the  financial  management  of  the  Federal- 
ists ;  and  now  were  not  expenses  curtailed,  and 
taxes  reduced,  and  debts  being  rapidly  dimin- 
ished ?  Had  not  Jefferson  always  desired  peace- 
ful relations  with  foreign  powers,  and  had  the 
country  been  for  many  years  past  so  free  from 
irritation  and  anxiety  growing  out  of  foreign 
affairs  ?  Had  not  Jefferson  always  declared 
that  he  sought  unity  of  feeling  and  the  preva- 
lence of  universal  good- will  among  the  people 
themselves,  and  had  political  kindliness  ever 
before  permeated  the  nation  as  it  did  to-day  ? 
Four  years  of  prosperity  and  tranquillity  left 
little  room  for  discontent  with  the  government. 
Amid  such  influences  political  opposition  pined 
and  almost  died.  The  Federalist  party  shrank 
to  insignificant  dimensions,  indeed,  since  it 
flourished  chiefly  in  a  narrow  locality,  and  was 
largely  recruited  from  those  peculiar  spirits 
who  seem  to  be  by  nature  malcontents  and 
grumblers,  it  seemed  on  the  verge  of  becoming 
rather  a  faction  than  a  party. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  the 
fifth  presidential  election  took  place.  At  the 
close  of  February,  1804,  the  Republican  mem- 
bers of  Congress  held  a  caucus  and  nominated 
Jefferson  as  the  party  candidate  for  the  presi- 


PRESIDENT:   FIRST  TERM.  269 

dency  at  the  next  election.  They  also  very 
gladly  felt  that  they  could  safely  throw  Burr 
overboard,  and  they  accordingly  named  George 
Clinton  for  the  second  place.  Jefferson  could 
not  bring  himself  to  decline  a  second  term.  He 
can  hardly  be  seriously  blamed  for  this,  though 
certainly  he  became  guilty  of  still  another  in- 
consistency which  he  defended  only  by  so-called 
reasons  which  deserved  the  less  honorable  name 
of  excuses.  His  opinion  "originally"  had  been, 
"  that  the  President  of  the  United  States 
should  have  been  elected  for  seven  years,  and 
be  forever  ineligible  afterwards."  But  he  had 
"  since  become  sensible  that  seven  years  is  too 
long  to  be  irremovable.  .  .  .  The  service  for 
eight  years,  with  a  power  to  remove  at  the  end 
of  the  first  four,  comes  nearer  to  my  principle 
as  corrected  by  experience."  Admirable  hap- 
piness of  expression,  that  might  have  planted 
envy  in  the  breast  of  the  most  subtle  Jesuit ! 
In  adherence  to  this  principle,  he  adds  :  "  I  de- 
termine to  withdraw  at  the  end  of  rny  second 
term.  .  .  .  General  Washington  set  the  exam- 
ple of  retirement  at  the  end  of  eight  years.  I 
shall  follow  it ;  and  a  few  more  precedents  will 
oppose  the  obstacle  of  habit  to  any  one  after  a 
while  who  shall  endeavor  to  extend  his  term." 
So  much  for  his  abstract  principles.  His  more 
specific  motives  he  stated  as  follows :  — 


270  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

"  I  sincerely  regret  that  the  unbounded  calumnies 
of  the  Federal  party  have  obliged  me  to  throw  my- 
self on  the  verdict  of  my  country  for  trial,  my  great 
desire  having  been  to  retire,  at  the  end  of  the  pres- 
ent term,  to  a  life  of  tranquillity ;  and  it  was  my 
decided  purpose  when  I  entered  into  office.  They 
force  my  continuance.  If  we  can  keep  the  vessel  of 
state  as  steadily  in  her  course  for  another  four  years, 
my  earthly  purposes  will  be  accomplished,  and  I  shall 
be  free  to  enjoy,  as  you  are  doing,  my  family,  my 
farm,  and  my  books." 

So  the  Federalists  had  themselves  to  thank 
for  the  continuance  of  their  much  hated  oppo- 
nent in  the  presidency.  They  must  seek  such 
comfort  as  they  could  find  in  his  asseveration 
that  he  was  very  unhappy  about  it. 

A  party  so  large  and  so  omnipotent  as  the 
Republicans,  or  Democrats,  had  now  become, 
could  not  long  remain  wholly  free  from  intes- 
tine feuds.  Some  rifts  seemed  already  to  be- 
come visible.  The  followers  of  Burr  were 
angry  at  his  ignominious  displacement ;  there 
were  dissensions  in  New  York  ;  and  symptoms 
which  soon  ripened  into  ill  blood  were  discerni- 
ble in  Pennsylvania.  Even  the  Democrats  in 
the  Eastern  States  were  getting  much  disgusted 
with  the  Virginian  ascendency.  In  view  of 
these  hopeful  facts  the  Federalists  began  to 
cherish  schemes  of  detaching  from  the  main 


PRESIDENT:  FIRST  TERM.  271 

body  of  Republicans  a  considerable  number  of 
malcontents;  then  an  alliance,  in  which  they 
would  be  the  more  weighty  partner,  might  re- 
store them  to  power.  Jefferson  was  well  aware 
of  these  intrigues,  but  watched  them  with  just 
contempt.  Nothing  came  of  them.  When  the 
time  arrived,  the  Republican  party  in  all  sec- 
tions of  the  country  voted  solidly  and  won  an 
overwhelming  victory.  Even  Massachusetts 
was  for  once  carried  by  them,  to  the  immense 
surprise  and  chagrin  of  the  Federalists.  In  the 
electoral  colleges  one  hundred  and  sixty-two 
votes  were  cast  for  Jefferson  and  Clinton ;  four- 
teen faithful  Federalists  gave  their  ballots  for 
C.  C.  Pinckney  and  Rufus  King.  It  was  a 
glorious  triumph. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

PRESIDENT  :      SECOND     TERM.  —  RANDOLPH'S 
DEFECTION.  —  BURR'S    TREASON. 

A  LONG  life  of  singular  good  fortune,  almost 
unprecedented  in  a  land  of  popular  government, 
checkered  by  few  serious  and  no  enduring  dis- 
appointments, found  its  culmination  in  the  bril- 
liant victory  of  the  election  of  1804.  Had  Jef- 
ferson been  as  wise  as  the  prince  in  the  fable 
he  would  have  been  alarmed  at  his  own  for- 
tune, and  have  felt  reluctant  further  to  test  the 
constancy  of  his  good  Genius,  knowing  how  diffi- 
cult it  is  to  perch  long  upon  the  giddy  pinnacle 
of  supreme  success.  Apparently  he  felt  no  such 
boding  instinct,  but  approached  his  second  term 
with  tranquil  confidence.  This  temper  was  not 
properly  attributable  to  personal  vanity,  nor  to 
the  overweening  ambition  which  his  detractors 
ascribed  to  him.  Kather  it  was  due  to  his  firm 
belief  that  his  theories  of  government  were  so 
founded  in  eternal  truth  that  success  and  pop- 
ularity naturally  attended  upon  him  as  their 
expositor.  So  far  as  he  was  egotistical  and  self- 
confident,  he  was  so  because  he  honestly  con- 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND  TERM.  273 

ceived  himself  to  be  a  genuine  and  successful 
benefactor  of  mankind.  Yet  some  misgivings 
and  self-distrust  would  have  been  more  timely, 
for  whatever  were  his  deserts  he  was  about  to 
meet  such  reverses  as  experience  shows  almost 
inevitably  succeed  to  long  continued  prosperity. 
Not  many  days  after  Monroe  and  Living- 
ston had  agreed  to  purchase  Louisiana,  war  had 
again  broken  out  in  Europe.  Nor  did  hostili- 
ties advance  far  before  the  ill  effects  attendant 
upon  all  those  Napoleonic  struggles  began  to 
be  experienced  by  the  United  States,  in. the  too 
familiar  shape  of  naval  outrages  and  lawless  ag- 
gressions upon  their  neutral  commerce.  Seri- 
ous complaints  were  heard,  and  the  outlook  was 
far  from  cheerful  during  many  months  before 
Jefferson's  second  inauguration.  Yet  he  ob- 
stinately maintained  a  sanguine  temper.  Re- 
solved to  preserve  a  fair  neutrality,  he  would 
not  doubt  that  his  just  dealing  would  be  recip- 
rocated, and  the  neutral  rights  of  the  United 
States  be  respected  with  moderate  honesty. 
The  career  in  which  the  French  people  had 
sustained  Napoleon  for  many  years  past  had  to 
a  great  extent  cured  Jefferson  of  those  Galli- 
can  predilections  which  in  Washington's  day 
had  given  such  an  unneutral  bias  to  his  feel- 
ings. Now  he  had  been  for  some  time  inclin- 
ing towards  England,  not  so  much  with  warmth 

18 


274  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

of  sentiment  as  from  a  respect  for  her  position 
as  the  chief  obstacle  in  the  way  of  Bonaparte's 
military  despotism.  Even  so  far  back  as  Octo- 
ber, 1802,  he  had  written  rather  bitterly  to 
Livingston :  "  It  is  well,  however,  to  be  able  to 
inform  you  generally  .  .  .  that  we  stand  com- 
pletely corrected  of  the  error  that  either  the 
government  or  the  nation  of  France  has  any  re- 
mains of  friendship  for  us."  In  the  summer  of 
1803  he  said:  "We  see  .  .  .  with  great  con- 
cern the  position  in  which  Great  Britain  is 
placed,  ^and  should  be  sincerely  afflicted  were 
any  disaster  to  deprive  mankind  of  the  benefit 
of  such  a  bulwark  against  the  torrent  which 
has  for  some  time  been  bearing  down  all  before 
it."  Again  :  "  We  are  friendly,  cordially  and 
conscientiously  friendly,  to  England.  We  are 
not  hostile  to  France.  We  will  be  rigorously 
just  and  sincerely  friendly  to  both.  I  do  not 
believe  we  shall  have  as  much  to  swallow  from 
them  as  our  predecessors  had."  In  this  spirit 
towards  the  warring  powers,  Jefferson  felt  "a 
perfect  horror  at  everything  like  connecting  our- 
selves with  the  politics  of  Europe."  His  wish 
was  that,  while  the  nations  of  the  old  world 
were  fighting,  the  United  States  should  stand 
by  indifferent,  or  at  least  impartial,  but  rapidly 
amassing  riches  through  the  abundant  channel 
of  a  vast  neutral  commerce.  It  was  a  pleas- 


PRESIDENT:   SECOND    TERM.  275 

ing  and  sufficiently  honorable  project  to  gather 
wealth,  increase,  and  power  through  peace. 
"  The  day,"  he  wrote,  in  one  of  his  happy 
dreamings,  *'  is  within  my  time  as  well  as 
yours,  when  we  may  say  by  what  laws  other 
nations  shall  treat  us  on  the  sea.  And  we  will 
say  it.  In  the  mean  time  we  wish  to  let  every 
treaty  we  have  drop  off  without  renewal."  It 
was  a  civilized  policy  worthy  of  respect.  More- 
over it  was  a  sensible  policy.  Jefferson  alone 
understood  in  that  time  the  truth,  which  is 
now  more  generally  appreciated,  that  by  sheer 
growth  in  population,  wealth,  and  industry  a 
nation  gains  the  highest  degree  of  substantial 
power  and  authority. 

But  Jefferson's  attitude  was  that  of  a  mer- 
cantile Quaker  seeking  an  amicable  trade  with 
infuriated  highwaymen,  hardly  a  feasible  atti- 
tude to  be  long  maintained.  Rage  and  imme- 
diate self-interest  alone  ruled  the  combatants, 
who  were  about  as  much  influenced  by  Mr. 
Jefferson's  reasonable  and  pacific  protestations 
as  they  were  by  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
Peace  and  neutrality  were  contemptible  phrases 
in  their  ears.  The  British  cabinet  determined 
that  the  United  States  should  either  become  an 
ally  of  England  or  be  plundered  by  English 
cruisers.  France  pursued  the  same  policy  so 
far  as  she  could.  But  Jefferson,  resolutely  bent 


276  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

upon  tranquillity  and  prosperity,  clung  to  his 
chosen  course,  and  persisted  in  protest  and  ne- 
gotiation. His  expressions  of  good-will  towards 
England  increased.  "  No  two  countries  upon 
earth,"  he  said,  "  have  so  many  points  of  com- 
mon interest  and  friendship,  and  their  rulers 
must  be  great  bunglers  indeed,  if,  with  such 
dispositions,  they  break  them  asunder."  It 
was  cruel  indeed  to  have  only  violence  and 
robbery  returned  for  such  resolute  amiability. 
But  so  it  was;  and  the  battle  of  Trafalgar 
occurring  October  21,  1805,  and  leaving  Eng- 
land supreme  upon  the  ocean,  proved  a  further 
serious  misfortune  for  the  United  States,  who 
soon  began  to  suffer  more  intolerable  injuries 
than  any  yet  inflicted. 

Another  incident  in  the  first  year  of  his  sec- 
ond term  gave  the  President  grave  though  tem- 
porary annoyance.  Spain,  backed  by  France, 
threatened  to  make  serious  trouble  concerning 
the  eastern  boundaries  of  Louisiana.  Jeffer- 
son, though  irritated  and  ready  to  fight  if  need 
be,  was  yet  sufficiently  true  to  his  principles  to 
prefer  the  peaceful  remedy  of  a  purchase.  On 
December  6,  1805,  he  sent  a  private  message 
to  the  House,  with  the  design  that  it  should 
lead  up  to  such  another  appropriation  as  had 
been  placed  at  his  disposal  in  the  case  of  Louis- 
iana. But  to  the  surprise  and  discomfiture  of 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND  TERM.      277 

the  administrationists,  a  report  of  a  very  differ- 
ent tenor  was  made  by  the  committee  to  whom 
the  message  was  referred ;  and  the  chairman  of 
that  committee  was  John  Randolph.  Here  was 
indeed  an  alarming  defection ;  for  Randolph 
had  long  been  accustomed  to  lead  the  House  for 
the  government.  He  was  esteemed  daring, 
able,  and  influential ;  and  those  traits,  which 
later  gave  him  the  character  of  a  mere  politi- 
cal free  lance,  had  not  yet  been  fully  recog- 
nized. He  had  carried  through  the  Louisiana 
measures  with  a  contempt  for  logic  and  law 
which  proved  him  the  best  of  partisans;  he 
had  endured  castigation  and  defeat  in  the 
Chase  impeachment  with  a  gallantry  that  made 
him  seem  the  most  loyal  of  followers.  Now 
suddenly  he  sprang  up  on  the  wrong  side  and 
poured  forth  the  most  vituperative  harangues 
not  only  against  the  policy  but  even  against  the 
political  integrity  of  the  President.  Jefferson 
might  well  be  taken  aback  by  this  singular 
behavior,  for  he  had  a  right  to  expect  the  same 
support  in  buying  the  Floridas  which  had  been 
accorded  in  buying  Louisiana.  What  then  was 
to  be  the  extent  of  this  scission,  this  rebellion  ? 
For  a  short  time  he  watched  the  debates  in  the 
House  with  anxiety.  But  ere  long  the  votes 
reassured  him  ;  only  eleven  of  the  party  went 
off  under  Randolph's  banner ;  eighty-seven 


278  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

maintained  their  allegiance  to  the  President. 
Evidently  Randolph's  personal  influence  had 
been  overrated.  Not  all  even  of  his  eleven  re- 
mained faithful  to  him,  when  it  appeared  that 
his  purpose  was  not  merely  a  difference  upon 
this  single  occasion  but  extended  to  a  perma- 
nent opposition.  The  President  took  courage, 
and  declared  the  House  to  be 

"  as  well  disposed  as  ever  I  saw  one.  The  defection 
of  so  prominent  a  leader  threw  them  into  dismay  and 
confusion  for  a  moment ;  but  they  soon  rallied  to 
their  own  principles  and  let  him  go  off  with  five  or 
six  followers  only.  .  .  .  The  alarm  .  .  .  from  this 
schism  has  produced  a  rallying  together  and  a  har- 
mony, which  carelessness  and  security  had  begun  to 
endanger.  On  the  whole  this  little  trial  of  the  firm- 
ness of  our  representatives  in  their  principles  .  .  . 
has  added  much  to  my  confidence  in  the  stability  of 
our  government,  and  to  my  conviction  that  should 
things  go  wrong  at  any  time,  the  people  will  set  them 
to  rights  by  the  peaceable  exercise  of  their  elective 
rights." 

Characteristic  sentences !  Jefferson  presents 
the  unusual  spectacle  of  one  who  grew  more 
optimistic  with  increasing  years. 

Yet  Randolph's  conduct,  though  of  slight  po- 
litical consequence,  ought  to  have  given  food 
for  reflection  to  the  people.  It  was  not  the 
outgrowth  of  selfish  disappointment,  but  of  a 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND  TERM.  279 

genuine  and  honest  dissatisfaction  with  the 
career  of  the  administration.  Randolph  was 
really  a  purist  in  politics,  as  Jefferson  had  pro- 
fessed to  be.  He  had  espoused  Republicanism 
and  had  become  the  devout  disciple  of  Jefferson 
because  he  had  believed  that  absolute  purity 
would  prevail  beneath  the  sway  of  that  party 
and  its  admirable  leader.  A  Republican  tri- 
umph was  to  inaugurate  a  golden  age  of  virtue. 
He  had  been  slow  to  awake  from  this  delu- 
sion and  to  acknowledge  that  his  idol  was 
adopting  the  ways  of  all  politicians  and  that 
the  business  of  government  was  conducted  now 
much  as  it  had  been  in  the  bad  days  of  Feder- 
alism. In  the  pain  and  anger  of  disillusion- 
ment, the  impetuous  reformer  saw  no  better 
course  than  to  abandon  a  chief  whom  he  chose 
to  regard  as  forsworn.  His  criticism  was  not 
just,  because  the  critic  had  set  up  an  ideal  stand- 
ard, and  had  expected  more  than  could  be 
done.  Yet  there  was  a  lesson  to  be  learned  from 
his  strictures  ;  it  was  apparent  that  Jefferson 
in  earlier  times  had  found  fault  which  he  had 
no  right  to  find  and  raised  hopes  which  he 
could  not  fulfil.  He  had  dreamed  and  prom- 
ised probably  with  honesty,  but  he  was  not 
transmuting  his  dreams  into  realities  nor  mak- 
ing his  promises  good.  In  truth  he  could  not 
do  so ;  he  had  tried,  but  he  had  unfortunately 


280  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

talked  about  impossibilities  in  government  so 
far  as  that  science  had  yet  been  developed. 

In  1805-6  another  disturbance  arose.  Aaron 
Burr  had  made  up  his  mind  that  treason  was 
preferable  to  a  condition  of  political  failure. 
For  advancing  the  purposes  of  his  boundless 
ambition  Burr  possessed  infinite  audacity,  a 
singular  capacity  for  personal  fascination,  and 
great  aptitude  for  the  machinery  of  politics. 
But  he  needed  much  weightier  qualities  to  en- 
able him  to  cope  with  such  powerful  leaders  as 
Hamilton  and  Jefferson,  who  both,  hostile  in 
everything  else,  were  of  one  mind  concerning 
the  necessity  of  crushing  him.  Nor  did  Burr 
improve  matters,  but,  to  his  infinite  surprise 
and  chagrin,  made  them  vastly  worse  by  the 
method  which  he  took  to  rid  himself  of  Ham- 
ilton. He  only  added  universal  odium  to  polit- 
ical disaster  and  financial  ruin.  In  this  state  of 
his  affairs  he  concocted  his  famous  scheme  for 
seating  himself  upon  the  "  throne  of  the  Mon- 
tezumas,"  and  annexing  to  it  all  the  territory 
west  of  the  Alleghanies.  While  the  enterprise 
was  still  unchecked  and  the  wildest  rumors  of 
its  extent  and  progress  were  prevalent,  Jeffer- 
son maintained  a  tranquil  confidence  highly 
creditable  to  his  good  sense.  He  omitted  no 
precaution,  but  he  felt  no  doubt  as  to  the  re- 
sult. Substantially  his  anticipations  were  jus- 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND  TERM.  281 

tified  by  the  prompt  and  easy  shattering  of  the 
meagre  forces  and  the  arrest  of  the  principal 
traitor. 

When  Burr  was  brought  to  Richmond  for 
trial,  the  President  took  the  liveliest  interest  in 
the  legal  proceedings.  Then  indeed  was  wit- 
nessed a  singular  spectacle.  The  Federalists, 
forgetting  that  the  hands  of  the  criminal  were 
red  with  the  life-blood  of  that  distinguished 
man  to  whom  their  party  owed  at  once  its  exist- 
ence and  nearly  all  the  measures  upon  which 
it  could  base  its  good  reputation,  and  seeing 
in  the  alleged  project  of  Burr  only  a  scheme 
which,  if  successful,  would  have  overwhelmed 
in  disgrace  the  administration  of  Jefferson,  now 
received  the  wretch  with  every  demonstration 
of  friendship  and  admiration.  They  pretended 
to  regard  him  as  an  innocent  man  persecuted 
by  the  President  from  motives  of  personal  spite. 
It  is  highly  improbable  that  they  believed  what 
they  said ;  but  even  if  they  did,  it  ill  became 
them  to  be  upholders  of  Burr.  Accident  made 
it  likely  that  the  punishment  of  a  traitor  would 
gratify  a  private  animosity  which  it  may  be  ad- 
mitted that  the  President  must  have  felt,  since 
he  was  human.  But  Burr  was  so  unquestion- 
ably guilty  that  Jefferson,  as  President,  was  in 
duty  bound  to  desire  his  conviction,  and  it  was 
impossible  to  say  how  far  personal  feeling  min- 


282  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

gled  with  public  motives.  By  established  rules 
the  President  was  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  the 
doubt.  But  the  Federalists,  themselves  most 
shamefully  condoning  Hamilton's  murder,  gave 
their  enemy  no  benefit  of  any  doubt,  preferring 
to  pursue  him  with  unbounded  abuse. 

Jefferson  certainly  made  no  secret  of  his 
opinion  ;  but  there  was  no  reason  why  he  should 
do  so  ;  there  was  no  danger  that  the  naked  fact 
that  he  thought  Burr  guilty  would  have  any 
undue  weight  in  a  court  over  which  Marshall 
was  presiding.  Indeed,  if  any  influence  at  all 
was  perceptible  in  that  tribunal,  it  was  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Federalist  friends  of  the  accused. 
Jefferson,  of  course,  made  no  effort,  as  he  had 
no  power,  to  affect  the  conduct  of  the  trial  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  save  so  far  as  that  he  com- 
municated to  the  government  counsel  any  facts 
or  suggestions  which  occurred  to  him.  But  he 
watched  the  proceedings  closely,  and  certainly 
he  had  a  right  to  be  indignant  at  some  inci- 
dents in  them.  For  instance,  Luther  Martin, 
himself  not  untainted  by  suspicion  of  collusion 
with  his  "  highly-respected  friend,"  as  he  took 
pains  to  call  Burr  in  open  court,  did  not  hesitate 
to  charge  that  the  President,  by  "  tyrannical  or- 
ders "  "  contrary  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws,"  had  endeavored  to  consign  "  to  destruc- 
tion "  "  the  life  and  property  of  an  innocent 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND  TERM.  283 

man."  The  judges  sat  silent  while  the  counsel 
uttered  this  and  more  of  the  same  sort.  Then 
application  was  made  by  the  defendant's  law- 
yers for  a  subpoena  duces  tecum  to  compel  the 
President  personally  to  attend  as  a  witness, 
bringing  the  letters  and  records  of  the  War 
Department.  The  court  granted  the  request, 
but  admitted  that  it  had  no  authority  to  enforce 
such  a  summons.  This  singular  assertion  of  a 
right  to  command  not  backed  by  a  power  to  en- 
force made  the  President  angry.  He  was  ready 
to  send  any  papers  which  might  be  pertinent, 
but  he  repudiated  the  notion  that  the  court 
could  properly  order  him  to  take  the  stand  as  a 
witness.  There  is  hardihood,  if  not  profes- 
sional profanity,  in  questioning  a  decision  of 
Marshall;  but  it  certainly  seems  as  though  the 
Federalist  rather  than  the  judge  spoke  on  this 
occasion  ;  and  if  all  his  rulings  had  been  as 
open  to  criticism  and  to  suspicion  as  was  this 
one,  he  might  have  left  a  less  formidable  repu- 
tation. 

Jefferson  wrote  to  Hay  as  follows :  — 

"  Laying  down  the  position  generally,  that  all  per- 
sons owe  obedience  to  subpoenas,  he  [Marshall]  ad- 
mits no  exception  unless  it  can  be  produced  in  his 
law  books.  .  .  .  The  Constitution  enjoins  his  [the 
President's]  constant  agency  in  the  concerns  of  six 
millions  of  people.  Is  the  law  paramount  to  this, 


284  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

which  calls  on  him  on  behalf  of  a  single  one  ?  Let 
us  apply  the  judge's  own  doctrine  to  the  case  of  him- 
self and  his  brethren.  The  sheriff  of  Henrico  sum- 
mons him  from  the  bench  to  quell  a  riot  somewhere 
in  his  county.  The  federal  judge  is  by  the  general 
law  a  part  of  the  posse  of  the  state  sheriff.  Would 
the  judge  abandon  major  duties  to  perform  lesser 
ones  ?  Again  :  the  court  of  Orleans  or  Maine  com- 
mands by  subpo3nas  the  attendance  of  all  the  judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court.  Would  they  abandon  their 
posts  as  judges,  and  the  interests  of  millions  commit- 
ted to  them,  to  serve  the  purposes  of  a  single  indi- 
vidual ?  The  leading  principle  of  our  Constitution  is 
the  independence  of  the  Legislature,  Executive,  and 
Judiciary  of  each  other  ;  and  none  are  more  jealous 
of  this  than  the  Judiciary.  But  would  the  Executive 
be  independent  of  the  Judiciary,  if  he  were  subject  to 
the  commands  of  the  latter,  and  to  imprisonment  for 
disobedience,  if  the  several  courts  could  bandy  him 
from  pillar  to  post,  keep  him  constantly  trudging  from 
north  to  south  and  east  to  west,  and  withdraw  him 
entirely  from  his  constitutional  duties  ?  " 

A  striking  exemplification  of  the  force  of 
this  argument  would  probably  soon  have  been 
furnished,  had  not  Burr  escaped  from  a  trial  in 
Ohio  by  forfeiting  his  bonds  and  fleeing  abroad. 
For  the  President  would  surely  have  been  sum- 
moned to  that  trial  also,  and,  if  he  had  obeyed 
the  summons,  would  have  been  kept  far  from 
the  seat  of  government,  in  a  then  very  inacces- 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND  TERM.  285 

sible  region,  at  the  moment  when  his  presence 
was  of  exceptional  importance  at  the  capital, 
by  reason  of  the  doings  of  British  cruisers  on 
the  Virginian  sea-coast,  and  of  the  perilous  con- 
dition of  our  relations  with  England.  The  de- 
cision of  Marshall  was  disregarded  by  the 
President,  and  nothing  more  came  of  it.  Only 
the  Federalists  used  his  conduct  as  a  further 
support  of  their  accusations  of  tyranny  and 
injustice. 

When  the  final  result  was  announced  Jeffer- 
son directed  George  Hay,  of  counsel  for  the 
government,  not  to  pay  or  dismiss  any  wit- 
nesses until  their  testimony  should  have  been 
taken  down  in  writing.  "  These  whole  pro- 
ceedings," he  said,  "  will  be  laid  before  Con- 
gress, that  they  may  decide  whether  the  defect 
has  been  in  the  evidence  of  guilt,  or  in  the  law, 
or  in  the  application  of  the  law,  and  that  they 
may  provide  the  proper  remedy  for  the  past 
and  the  future."  He  was  as  good  as  his  word, 
calling  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  matter 
in  his  next  message  in  language  of  unmistakable 
tenor.  The  result  ultimately  was  the  passage 
of  some  useful  legislation  concerning  treason, 
but,  of  course,  nothing  was  done  in  relation  to 
this  especial  trial,  or  any  individual  engaged 
therein.  Matters  of  greater  consequence  than 
the  punishment  of  a  ruined  man  demanded  at- 
tention. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

PRESIDENT  :    SECOND   TERM.  —  EMBARGO. 

ANGRY  clouds  were  rolling  up  thick  and  fast 
from  the  Atlantic  horizon  over  the  benevolent 
head  of  the  most  pacific  of  earthly  rulers.  Jef- 
ferson seemed  to  make  a  modest  and  reasonable 
request  of  the  European  powers  when  he  asked 
only  that  they  would  let  the  United  States 
alone.  But  it  was  a  request  which  neither 
France  nor  England  had  any  mind  to  grant. 
Napoleon  would  tolerate  no  neutrality;  Great 
Britain  added  to  her  natural  vindictiveness  to- 
wards her  quondam  colonies  a  rapacious  jeal- 
ousy of  their  growing  commerce.  Her  estab- 
lished purpose  was  to  make  a  double  gain  at 
once  by  confiscation  and  extermination,  and  she 
carried  out  this  policy  with  brutal  insolence,  in 
defiance  of  international  law  and  natural  right. 
In  November,  1804,  Jefferson  was  obliged  to 
admit  that  even  in  our  own  harbors  our  vessels 
were  no  longer  safe  from  British  guns.  France, 
though  equally  ready,  was  fortunately  less  able 
to  commit  outrages.  Yet  the  President  hope- 
fully added  :  "  The  friendly  conduct  of  the 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND   TERM.  287 

governments,  from  whose  officers  and  subjects 
these  acts  have  proceeded,  in  other  respects  and 
places  more  under  their  observation  and  con- 
trol, gives  us  confidence  that  our  representa- 
tions on  this  subject  will  have  been  properly 
regarded."  A  vain  hope  !  A  year  passed  and 
matters  were  worse  rather  than  better.  In  the 
message  of  December  3,  1805,  Jefferson  could 
say  nothing  more  satisfactory  than  that 

"  our  coasts  have  been  infested  and  our  harbors 
watched  by  private  armed  vessels,  some  of  them 
without  commissions,  some  with  illegal  commissions, 
others  with  those  of  legal  form,  but  committing  pirat- 
ical acts  beyond  the  authority  of  their  commissions. 
They  have  captured  in  the  very  entrance  of  our  har- 
bors, as  well  as  on  the  high  seas,  not  only  the  vessels 
of  our  friends  coming  to  trade  with  us,  but  our  own 
also.  They  have  carried  them  off  under  pretence  of 
legal  adjudication  ;  but  not  daring  to  approach  a  court 
of  justice,  they  have  plundered  and  sunk  them  by  the 
way,  or  in  obscure  places  where  no  evidence  could 
arise  against  them  ;  maltreated  the  crews  and  aban- 
doned them  in  boats  in  the  open  sea  or  on  desert 
shores  without  food  or  covering." 

January  17,  1806,  he  was  further  obliged  to 
send  in  a  special  message  on  the  same  irritat- 
ing subject,  accompanied  by  the  "  memorials 
of  several  bodies  of  merchants  in  the  United 
States."  In  the  subsequent  debates  a  singular 


288  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

alliance  was  struck  between  the  Federalists 
from  the  commercial  districts  of  New  England 
and  John  Randolph,  with  his  half  dozen  follow- 
ers, —  the  "  Quids  "  as  they  were  called.  That 
there  was  no  real  community  of  interest  be- 
tween the  malcontent  planter  and  the  Eastern 
merchants  may  be  gathered  from  Randolph's 
bold  declaration  that,  "  if  this  great  agricultural 
nation  is  to  be  governed  by  Salem  and  Boston, 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore 
and  Norfolk  and  Charleston,  let  gentlemen 
come  out -and  say  so."  Nevertheless  the  two 
bodies  made  common  cause  against  the  admin- 
istration. But  their  strange  coalition  was  of 
no  avail.  The  measure  desired  by  the  Presi- 
dent was  carried  by  very  handsome  majorities 
in  both  Houses.  It  provided  that  after  Novem- 
ber 15,  1806,  certain  articles  should  not  be  im- 
ported from  the  British  dominions,  nor,  if  of 
British  manufacture,  from  any  other  places. 
Mr.  Jefferson,  still  omnipotent,  might  well  say, 
"  A  majority  of  the  Senate  means  well,"  and 
"  the  House  of  Representatives  is  as  well  dis- 
posed as  I  ever  saw  one."  He  believed  in  mer- 
cantile pressure,  and  he  was  allowed  to  have  his 
way. 

But  his  way  worked  poorly.  Less  than  a 
month  after  this  act  was  passed  the  English  war 
ship  Leander  fired  into  an  American  coaster 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND  TERM.  289 

near  Sandy  Hook  and  killed  a  man.  The  Presi- 
dent ordered  the  Leander  out  of  American  wa- 
ters, and  directed  the  arrest  of  her  commander, 
which  of  course  could  not  conveniently  be  made. 
Then,  alarmed  at  the  possible  effect  of  this  very 
moderate  display  of  resentment,  he  wrote  to 
Mr.  Monroe,  minister  at  London,  deprecating 
the  anger  of  the  newly  established  and  friendly, 
cabinet  of  Mr.  Fox.  Public  sentiment,  he  said, 
44  did  not  permit  us  to  do  less  than  has  been 
done.  It  ought  not  to  be  viewed  by  the  min- 
istry as  looking  towards  them  at  all,  but  merely 
as  the  consequences  of  the  measures  of  their 
predecessors,  which  their  nation  has  called  on 
them  to  correct.  I  hope,  therefore,  they  will 
come  to  just  arrangements."  Obviously  Jef- 
ferson had  forgotten  something  of  what  he  had 
once  learned  concerning  the  British  character, 
and  did  not  divine  the  antidotes  appropriate  to 
its  vices.  It  has  been  often  said  that  if  he  had 
refrained  from  his  prattle  about  peace,  reason, 
and  right,  and  instead  thereof  had  hectored  and 
swaggered  with  a  fair  show  of  spirit  at  this 
crucial  period,  the  history  of  the  next  ten  years 
might  have  been  changed  and  the  war  of  1812 
might  never  have  been  fought.  Probably  this 
would  not  have  been  the  case,  and  England 
would  have  fought  in  1807,  1808,  or  1809,  as 
readily  as  in  1812.  But  however  this  may  be, 
id 


290  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  high-tempered  course  was  the  only  one  of 
any  promise  at  all,  and  had  it  precipitated  the 
war  by  a  few  short  years,  at  least  the  nation 
would  have  escaped  a  long  and  weary  journey 
through  a*  mud  slough  of  humiliation.  But  it 
is  idle  to  talk  of  what  might  have  been  had 
Jefferson  acted  differently.  He  could  not  act 
differently.  Though  the  people  would  proba- 
bly have  backed  him  in  a  warlike  policy,  he 
could  not  adopt  it.  A  great  statesman  amid 
political  storms,  he  was  utterly  helpless  when 
the  clouds  of  war  gathered.  He  was  as  miser- 
ably out  of  place  now  as  he  had  been  in  the 
governorship  of  Virginia  during  the  Revolu- 
tion. He  could  not  bring  himself  to  entertain 
any  measures  looking  to  so  much  as  preparation 
for  serious  conflict.  A  navy  remained  still,  as 
it  had  always  been,  his  abhorrence.  His  ex- 
tremest  step  in  that  direction  was  to  build  gun- 
boats. Every  one  has  heard  of  and  nearly 
every  one  has  laughed  at  these  playhouse  flotil- 
las, which  were  to  be  kept  in  sheds  out  of  the 
sun  and  rain  until  the  enemy  should  appear, 
and  were  then  to  be  carted  down  to  the  water 
and  manned  by  the  neighbors,  to  encounter, 
perhaps,  the  fleets  and  crews  which  won  the 
fight  at  Trafalgar,  shattered  the  French  navy 
at  the  Nile,  and  battered  Copenhagen  to  ruins. 
It  almost  seemed  as  though  the  very  harmless- 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND  TERM.  291 

ness  of  the  craft  constituted  a  recommendation 
to  Jefferson.  At  least  they  were  very  cheap, 
and  he  rejoiced  to  reckon  that  nearly  a  dozen 
of  them  could  be  built  for  a  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  So  he  was  always  advising  to  build 
more,  while  England,  with  all  her  fighting- 
blood  up,  inflicted  outrage  after  outrage  upon 
a  country  whose  ruler  cherished  such  singular 
notions  of  naval  affairs. 

Yet  Jefferson  could  vapor  a  little  at  times  in 
such  a  quiet  private  way  as  involved  no  sub- 
stantial responsibility.  He  gave  vent  occasion- 
ally to  bellicose  sentiments  concerning  Spain, 
and  at  some  moments  was  quite  ready  to  fight 
her  about  the  Louisiana  boundaries,  or  for  the 
Floridas.  Once  he  said  :  "  We  begin  to  broach 
the  idea  that  we  consider  the  whole  Gulf 
Stream  as  of  our  waters,  in  which  hostilities  and 
cruising  are  to  be  frowned  on  for  the  present, 
and  prohibited  so  soon  as  either  consent  or  force 
will  permit  us.  We  shall  never  permit  another 
privateer  to  cruise  within  it,  and  we  shall  for- 
bid our  harbors  to  national  cruisers.  This  is 
essential  for  our  tranquillity  and  commerce." 
This  grandiloquence  occurs  in  the  very  letter 
in  which  he  admits  that  American  ships  are 
fired  into,  and  American  sailors  are  killed  with 
impunity  at  the  very  mouths  of  American  har- 
bors. Surely  never  was  man  more  devoid  of  a 
sense  of  humor ! 


292  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Meantime,  though  the  British  were  infesting 
the  Atlantic  seaboard  like  pirates,  Jefferson's 
perfect  faith  in  his  own  measures  and  the  peo- 
ple's equal  confidence  in  him  were  unshaken. 
The  Democrats  continued  to  score  gains  in  the 
elections,  until  the  whole  country  seemed  on  the 
point  of  becoming  solidly  of  that  party.  In 
this  state  of  affairs  the  Ninth  Congress  came 
together  on  December  1,  1806 ;  and  on  the 
next  day  Jefferson  sent  in  a  message  in  which 
he  said  :  "  The  delays  ...  in  our  negotiations 
with  the  British  government  appear  to  have 
proceeded  from  causes  which  do  not  forbid  the 
expectation  that  during  the  course  of  the  ses- 
sion I  may  be  enabled  to  lay  before  you  their 
final  issue."  Nevertheless  a  further  appropria- 
tion for  more  gunboats  was  recommended,  as 
matter  of  course.  They  were  fully  as  good  for 
peace  as  for  war  ! 

A  noteworthy  passage  in  this  message,  though 
an  episode  in  the  present  narrative,  deserves  a 
word.  It  appeared  likely  that  there  would  soon 
be  a  surplus  of  income  over  expenditures,  and 
the  President  said  that  the  use  to  be  made  of 
that  surplus  demanded  consideration. 

"  Shall  we  suppress  the  impost  and  give  that  ad- 
vantage to  foreign  over  domestic  manufactures  ?  On 
a  few  articles  of  more  general  and  necessary  use  the 
suppression  in  due  season  will  doubtless  be  right ; 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND  TERM.  293 

but  the  great  mass  of  the  articles  on  which  impost  is 
paid  is  foreign  luxuries,  purchased  by  those  only 
who  are  rich  enough  to  afford  themselves  the  use  of 
them.  Their  patriotism  would  certainly  prefer  its 
continuance  and  application  to  the  great  purposes  of 
the  public  education,  roads,  rivers,  canals,  and  such 
other  objects  of  public  improvement  as  it  may  be 
thought  proper  to  add  to  the  constitutional  enumera- 
tion of  federal  powers." 

Here  was  a  somersault  indeed,  which  might 
well  confound  those  who  remembered  how  Re- 
publicans had  always  denounced  the  theory  of 
internal  improvements.  It  helped  the  incon- 
sistency not  at  all  that  Jefferson  admitted  the 
necessity  of  a  constitutional  amendment  in  or- 
der to  render  lawful  the  expenditures  which  he 
contemplated.  For  his  party  had  maintained 
not  only  that  such  projects  were,  but  also  tbat 
they  ought  to  be,  unconstitutional.  Yet  now 
Jefferson,  who  had  preached  tbat  the  Union  was 
and  ought  to  remain  a  league  for  the  sole  pur- 
pose of  foreign  relationships,  that  the  States 
were  and  ought  to  remain  supreme  and  inde- 
pendent governments  in  respect  of  all  internal 
and  domestic  affairs,  —  Jefferson  was  actually 
urging  this  doctrine  of  internal  improvements, 
on  the  very  alleged  ground  that  it  would  unify, 
nationalize,  centralize  the  people  and  the  gov- 
ernment !  "  By  these  operations,"  he  said, "  new 


294  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

channels  of  communication  will  be  opened  be- 
tween the  States ;  the  lines  of  separation  will 
disappear;  their  interests  will  be  identified; 
and  their  union  cemented  by  new  and  indisso- 
luble ties."  Hamilton  would  have  had  some 
entertaining  comments  for  this  extraordinary 
politico-economical  conversion  to  his  principles. 
To  return  to  foreign  affairs:  on  December 
3,  1806,  the  President  sent  in  a  special  message 
advising  the  "  further  suspension  "  of  the  Non- 
importation Act  which  had  not  yet  been  put  in 
force.  His  motive  was  that  Mr.  Fox  had  be- 
come prime  minister  and  was  supposed  to  cher- 
ish friendly  sentiments  towards  the  United 
States.  The  obedient  majority  did  his  bidding, 
encountering  only  a  trifling  opposition  from  the 
Federalists.  February  19,  1807,  the  President 
announced  that  Monroe  and  Pinckney  had  at 
last  succeeded  in  coming  to  terms  with  Great 
Britain  ;  though  unfortunately  the  pleasure  of 
the  news  was  seriously  dashed  by  rumors  that 
impressment  was  not  disposed  of.  Within  a 
few  days  this  disappointment  was  made  certain 
by  the  receipt  of  the  treat}',  showing  that  the 
negotiators  had  followed  the  example  of  Mr. 
Jay  in  taking  the  best  they  could  get  rather 
than  nothing.  But  this  best  seemed  to  Jeffer- 
son so  bad  that  he  would  not  for  a  moment 
consider  it.  Loath  to  fight  for  the  national 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND  TERM.  295 

rights,  at  least  he  would  not  compromise  them 
even  by  remote  inference.  In  negotiation  he 
had  infinite  courage  and  obstinacy.  Accord- 
ingly, without  communicating  the  treaty  to  the 
Senate,  though  that  body  was  then  in  session, 
he  at  once  returned  it  to  Monroe,  stating  that 
it  would  not  do  at  all,  and  that  negotiations 
should  be  resumed  for  a  widely  different  con- 
clusion. No  one  could  find  fault  with  his  opin- 
ion concerning  the  treaty,  but  the  Federalists 
assailed  the  manner  of  the  rejection  as  high- 
handed and  autocratic.  It  had  this  character 
rather  in  appearance  than  in  substance;  yet 
such  an  act  done  by  John  Adams  would  not 
have  escaped  Jefferson's  bitter  animadversion. 

Though  Jefferson  sent  back  the  treaty,  he 
took  care,  at  the  same  time,  to  manifest  his  still 
pacific  temper  by  exercising  the  discretionary 
power  which  Congress  had  vested  in  him  further 
to  suspend  the  Non-Importation  Act.  Unfortu- 
nately a  Christian  and  commercial  disposition 
was  hopelessly  out  of  tune  with  the  times.  The 
English  policy  was  simple  :  since  the  Americans 
would  not  fight,  they  were  the  easier  objects  of 
plunder.  The  French  principle  was  responsive: 
since  the  Americans  are  to  be  robbed,  we  must 
share  in  the  booty.  ,  So  from  time  to  time  came 
British  Orders  in  Council,  and  retaliatory 
French  decrees  dated  by  the  victorious  Bona- 


296  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

parte  from  the  conquered  capitals,  Berlin  and 
Milan.  The  ultimate  result  of  all  these  taken 
together  was,  that  substantially  nothing  but 
their  own  coasting  trade  was  left  open  to  Ameri- 
can vessels.  One  half  the  mercantile  world 
was  sealed  up  by  the  British  ;  the  other  half 
by  the  French.  Ships  not  complying  with  cer- 
tain regulations  were  liable  to  capture  by  Eng- 
lish cruisers  ;  ships  complying  with  those 
regulations  were  subject  to  seizure  by  French 
vessels ;  and  vice  versa.  Nor  could  even  the 
trade  betwixt  their  own  ports  be  carried  on  by 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States  with  safety,  for 
British  vessels  prowled  even  in  our  home  waters 
in  search  of  seamen,  and  in  a  few  years  carried 
off  thousands  of  victims.  Their  audacity  was 
even  such  that  in  June,  1807,  the  English  war- 
ship Leopard  actually  fired  a  broadside  into 
the  American  frigate  Chesapeake,  just  outside 
Hampton  Roads,  killing  and  wounding  several 
men.  The  Chesapeake,  not  prepared  for  ac- 
tion, struck  her  colors  ;  the  British  commander 
boarded  her  and  carried  off  four  sailors,  Ameri- 
can citizens,  three  of  them  at  least  being  native 
born.  One  of  them  was  forthwith  hanged  at 
Halifax. 

The  news  of  this  outrage  threw  the  nation 
into  a  great  rage.  "Never,"  said  Jefferson, 
"since  the  battle  of  Lexington,  have  I  seen  this 


PRESIDENT:   SECOND   TERM.  297 

country  in  such  a  state  of  exasperation  as  at 
present."  Some  among  the  extreme  Federalists 
of  the  New  England  States,  terrified  at  the 
prospect  of  hostilities  with  England,  justified 
the  English  commander  ;  but  most  of  the  party 
were  too  high-spirited  for  such  conduct,  and 
joined  in  the  indignant  outcry  of  the  Republi- 
cans. u  The  Federalists  themselves  coalesce 
with  us  as  to  the  object,  although  they  will  re- 
turn to  their  old  trade  of  condemning  every  step 
we  take  towards  obtaining  it,"  said  Jefferson. 
He  himself  was  deeply  incensed,  but  acknowl- 
edged the  obligation  to  take  no  irrevocable  step 
in  the  heat  of  passion.  "  Duty,"  he  considered, 
"  requires  that  we  do  no  act  which  shall  commit 
Congress  in  their  choice  between  war,  non-inter- 
course, and  other  measures."  But  he  at  once 
dispatched  a  vessel  to  England  to  demand  rep- 
aration, and  summoned  Congress  to  meet  in 
special  session  on  October  26,  by  which  time  he 
hoped  to  have  a  reply.  "  Reason,"  he  said, 
"  and  the  usage  of  civilized  nations  require  that 
we  should  give  them  an  opportunity  of  disa- 
vowal and  reparation.  Our  own  interest,  too, 
the  very  means  of  making  Avar,  requires  that 
we  should  give  time  to  our  merchants  to  gather 
in  their  vessels  and  property  and  our  seamen 
now  afloat."  It  is  plain  that  at  this  time  he 
anticipated  war.  He  declared  that  he  was 


298  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

making  "  every  preparation  "  for  it  "  whicli 
is  within  our  power,"  and  possibly  he  really 
thought  that  he  was  getting  the  country  into 
warlike  shape.  But  he  was  pitifully  mistaken. 
He  only  got  out  some  gunboats,  did  some  tri- 
fling work  on  harbor  fortifications,  and  gathered 
a  small  amount  of  supplies.  Congress  afterward 
made  some  petty  appropriations  to  pay  for  these 
things. 

On  October  26,  1807,  Congress  came  to- 
gether. In  both  Houses  a  majority,  even  more 
overwhelming  than  ever  before,  consisted  of  ad- 
ministrationists,  a  term  quite  as  properly  to  be 
used  in  describing  them  as  either  Republicans 
or  Democrats,  for  they  were  thoroughly  subject 
to  the  personal  influence  of  Jefferson.  It  was 
evident  that  whatever  measures  he  should  rec- 
ommend would  be  promptly  carried.  Yet  he 
was  content  in  his  message  only  to  communi- 
cate the  state  of  affairs,  which  was  already  well 
known,  and  to  let  the  development  of  his  policy 
await  the  English  reply  concerning  the  Chesa- 
peake outrage.  This  reply  did  not  arrive  until 
the  second  week  in  December,  and  then  it  was 
only  learned  that  England  would  send  a  special 
envoy  about  the  matter. 

A  few  days  later,  on  December  18,  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson sent  in  a  brief  but  momentous  message. 
The  communications  accompanying  it,  he  said, 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND   TERM.  299 

would  show  "the  great  and  increasing  dan- 
gers with  which  our  vessels,  our  seamen,  and 
merchandise  are  threatened  on  the  high  seas 
and  elsewhere  from  the  belligerent  powers  of 
Europe,  and  it  being  of  great  importance  to 
keep  in  safety  these  essential  resources,  I  deem 
it  my  duty  to  recommend  the  subject  to  the 
consideration  of  Congress,  who  will  doubtless 
perceive  all  the  advantages  which  may  be  ex- 
pected from  an  inhibition  of  the  departure  of 
our  vessels  from  the  ports  of  the  United  States." 
It  was  afterwards  made  a  serious  question 
whether  or  not,  at  the  time  of  sending  this 
message,  the  President  had  information  of  the 
British  Orders  in  Council  dated  November  11, 
held  back  from  formal  issuance  until  November 
17,  declaring  a  "paper  blockade"  of  all  the 
ports  of  France  and  her  allies.  The  English 
ministry  and  their  friends,  the  American  Fed- 
eralists, always  maintained  that  Jefferson  had 
no  proper  knowledge  of  these  Orders,  and  that 
his  recommendation  of  an  embargo  was  a  pre- 
mature and  unjustifiable  act  of  unfriendliness. 
The  administrationists  retorted  that  Jefferson 
had  the  intelligence,  though  not  in  official  form. 
Really  the  point,  if  it  could  be  made  good,  de- 
served to  be  disregarded,  and  could  have  been 
preferred  only  by  the  immeasurable  insolence 
of  Mr.  Canning.  The  communication  would 


300  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

have  been  formally  made  if  England  had  not 
behaved  with  shameful  disingenuousness.  She 
pretended  to  send  Mr.  Rose  as  a  special  emis- 
sary in  the  Chesapeake  affair,  but,  besides  ham- 
pering him  with  such  preposterous  conditions 
that  he  could  only  disclose  them  and  sail  home 
again,  she  also  held  back  these  Orders  in  Coun- 
cil, until  literally  a  few  hours  after  his  depart- 
ure from  London.  The  honorable  motive  was 
that  the  United  States  might  receive  and  treat 
with  him  in  ignorance  of  them.  It  hardly  be- 
came a  minister,  guilty  of  such  sharp  practice, 
to  complain  that  Mr.  Jefferson  had  been  a  little 
too  ready  with  a  demonstration  of  unfriendli- 
ness. 

So  now  at  last  the  presidential  policy  was  an- 
nounced,—  not  war,  but  commercial  pressure, 
an  embargo.  The  history  of  the  brief  rem- 
nant of  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration  is  little 
else  than  a  narrative  of  Federalist  attacks  on 
this  measure,  and  its  defence  by  the  admin- 
istrationists.  At  first  it  was  surprisingly  pop- 
ular. In  the  Senate  John  Quincy  Adams  not 
only  deserted  his  party  in  order  to  vote  for  it, 
but  said :  "  The  President  has  recommended 
this  measure  on  his  high  responsibility.  I 
would  not  consider,  I  would  not  deliberate,  I 
would  act.  Doubtless  the  President  possesses 
such  further  information  as  will  justify  the 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND   TERM.  301 

The  senators  accepted  this  reason 
and  this  suggestion.  Jefferson  advised ;  delib- 
eration was  superfluous.  In  a  session  of  only 
four  hours,  behind  closed  doors,  under  a  suspen- 
sion of  the  rules,  the  bill  was  passed  on  the 
same  day  on  which  the  message  was  received. 
In  the  House  the  Federalists  kept  up  a  debate 
for  three  clays,  but  also  with  closed  doors.  Ex- 
cept for  this  brief  delay  they  were  powerless, 
and  the  bill  was  carried  by  82  to  44.  The  vote, 
however,  showed  that  some  few  Republicans 
had  for  once  gone  over  to  the  Federalists  and 
the  "  Quids." 

It  has  been  pretty  generally  agreed  in  subse- 
quent times  that  the  embargo  was  a  blunder. 
Certainly  the  world  has  outgrown  such  meas- 
ures just  as  it  has  outgrown  Jefferson's  am- 
phibious gunboats.  It  is  hard  to  realize  that 
only  three  quarters  of  a  century  ago  neither  of 
these  ideas,  more  especially  that  of  the  em- 
bargo, had  become  discredited.  On  the  con- 
trary, in  1807-8  an  embargo  was  a  reputable 
measure  of  statecraft,  supposed  to  be  efficient 
botli  defensively  and  offensively.  In  the  United 
States  especially  the  people  had  been  wont  for 
more  than  a  generation  to  regard  it  with  pecul- 
iar favor.  So  now  the  policy  was  hailed  with 
approbation  by  an  overwhelming  majority. 
Some  Federalist  newspapers  had  cried  out  for 


302  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

it ;  and  even  many  of  the  most  influential  mer- 
chants were  strongly  in  favor  of  it,  though  pos- 
sibly from  the  interested  motive  of  wearing  out 
their  poorer  competitors.  Moreover,  it  was 
supposed  by  all  that  this  embargo,  like  earlier 
ones,  would  be  of  reasonably  short  duration  ; 
and  though  the  Federalists  called  attention  to 
the  fact  that  the  present  act,  unlike  its  prede- 
cessors, did  not  establish  any  limit  of  time,  yet 
few  persons  honestly  feared  that  this  omission 
had  any  dangerous  significance. 

Jefferson  argued  very  fairly  that  we  should 
save  the  property  of  our  citizens,  and  the  per- 
sons of  our  sailors,  by  keeping  our  ships  in  our 
own  harbors,  whereas  on  the  high  seas  both 
merchandise  and  men  would  be  stolen.  The 
device  did  not  seem  to  him  ignoble.  Moreover, 
since  commerce  was  to  be  forbidden  in  foreign 
no  less  than  in  domestic  bottoms,  he  was  able 
to  depict  great  numbers  of  British  merchants 
suffering  loss  and  ruin,  and  throngs  of  British 
artificers  reduced  to  starvation  by  the  conse- 
quent curtailment  of  industry.  English  labor- 
ers, he  said,  could  not,  like  Americans,  readily 
adopt  new  occupations ;  neither  had  they  that 
surplus  of  food  which  our  farmers  enjo}7ed.  He 
spoke  as  if  all  Americans  were  farmers ;  and 
gave  no  thought  to  the  great  seaboard  popula- 
tion wholly  dependent  upon  trade.  If  they 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND   TERM.  303 

were  to  be  hurt,  he  at  least  expected  them  to 
be  kept  silent  by  patriotism,  while  he  antici- 
pated that  the  clamors  of  the  English  mal- 
contents would  overawe  Parliament  and  the 
administration.  A  certain  amount  of  sound 
reason  which  really  lay  in  these  arguments, 
backed  by  the  confident  assent  of  a  vast  ma- 
jority of  the  nation,  and  soon  corroborated  by 
cheering  accounts  from  Mr.  Pinckne}7  concern- 
ing the  effect  of  the  pressure  in  England,  con- 
stituted perhaps  a  justification  for  Mr.  Jefferson 
in  the  outset.  But  in  order  to  make  this  justi- 
fication complete  two  things  were  necessary, 
both  obviously  implied  in  the  reasoning  of  the 
administrationists.  First :  so  far  as  the  -em- 
bargo was  a  domestic  measure,  i.  e.  designed  to 
save  our  ships  and  sailors,  it  should  obviously 
be  accompanied  by  vigorous  preparations  for 
war,  since  it  was  absurd  to  regard  an  embargo 
as  a  permanently  saving  device ;  before  long  it 
would  constitute  destruction  ;  it  could  only  be 
used  to  save  until  the  other  means  to  that  end 
customary  among  nations  could  be  resorted  to. 
Secondly :  so  far  as  the  embargo  had  a  foreign 
aspect,  i.  e.  was  designed  to  influence  British 
legislation,  it  was  properly  experimental  only, 
and  so  soon  as  the  working  of  the  experiment 
clearly  promised  failure,  it  should  have  been 
abandoned. 


304  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Now  in  point  of  fact  it  was  impossible  long 
to  defend  the  measure  in  the  former  of  these 
two  aspects,  because  the  lapse  of  time  showed 
no  serious  purpose  to  protect  by  sufficient  force 
the  men  and  property  subjected  to  the  embargo. 
To  save  them  by  shutting  them  up  until  prepa- 
ration could  be  made  to  protect  them  when 
abroad  was  therefore  clearly  not  the  govern- 
ment policy.  Hence  the  measure,  if  it  was  to 
be  defended  at  all  after  the  passing  of  a  few 
months,  must  be  defended  in  its  second  or  for- 
eign character.  But  here,  unfortunately,  it  was 
utterly  and  hopelessly  indefensible.  The  clamor 
had  been  raised,  and  the  British  government 
had  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  it,  for  reasons  alto- 
gether too  attractive  to  be  readily  rejected. 
The  merchants  who  were  injured  by  the  cessa- 
tion of  the  American  trade  would  probably 
suffer  only  temporarily ;  at  any  rate  they  were 
only  individual  victims  of  a  great  national 
policy,  destined  to  work  an  immense  and  last- 
ing benefit  to  the  entire  shipping  and  mercan- 
tile interests  of  their  country.  It  was  the 
established  aim  of  the  English  government  to 
annihilate  American  commerce,  which  already 
threatened  a  dangerous  rivalry  with  their  own. 
In  ministerial  eyes  the  embargo  was  a  welcome 
and  efficient  aid,  blindly  furnished  by  their  com- 
petitor against  itself.  Jefferson  ought  to  have 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND  TERM.  305 

understood  this,  and  appreciated  that  England 
could  play  at  his  game  longer  and  with  much 
more  profit  than  the  United  States.  For  while 
in  England  a  few  suffered,  in  the  United  States 
the  whole  vast  industries  of  shipping  and  com- 
merce were  subjected  to  a  process  of  starvation 
which  in  time  would  result  in  utter  destruction. 
The  longer  the  United  States  endured,  the  more 
they  advanced  the  English  scheme.  That 
scheme  was  a  permanent  policy,  whereas  the 
United  States  were  seeking  only  an  immediate, 
specific  object,  namely,  a  recognition  of  their 
rights  without  enforcement  by  war.  Failing 
in  this,  as  ultimately  they  did  fail  in  it,  they 
were  wholly  losers.  Even  succeeding  in  it, 
they  would  sustain  a  serious  injury,  because 
they  would  return  much  weakened  to  a  sharp 
competition.  Whereas  in  any  possible  event 
the  English  must  gain  considerably  ;  'for  every 
set-back  encountered  by  American  commerce 
was  a  positive  advancement  of  English  com- 
merce. 

It  may  be  further  remarked  that  if  the  em- 
bargo accomplished  nothing  as  against  England, 
neither  did  it  do  better  as  against  France.  That 
country,  herself  little  hurt  by  the  embargo, 
was  satisfied  to  have  it  continue  in  force.  For 
the  permanent  commercial  ambition  of  England 
disturbed  Napoleon  very  little.  He  was  con- 

20 


306  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

tent  to  see  that  for  the  immediate  present  his 
foe  was  cut  off  from  supplies,  and  subjected  to 
a  partial  impoverishment. 

Unfortunately  the  English  policy  was  by  no 
means  intrinsically  devoid  of  shrewdness  or  effi- 
ciency. The  discouragement  which  American 
merchants  endured  for  many  years  prior  to  the 
war  of  1812,  followed  by  the  dangers  and  losses 
encountered  during  that  war,  constituted  the 
first  and  powerful  influence  operating  to  destroy 
American  commerce.  Had  the  mercantile  and 
shipping  interests  not  been  weakened  by  the 
prolonged  emaciation  inflicted  by  the  home  gov- 
ernment, they  might  have  remained  sufficiently 
powerful  to  keep  within  reasonable  limits  that 
ill-advised  legislation  which  has  since  completed 
the  destruction  initiated  by  Jefferson's  meas- 
ures. Unintentionally  he,  who  many  years  be- 
fore had  expressed  his  antipathy  to  commerce, 
now  did  it  an  injury  from  which  it  never  recov- 
ered. But  it  was  through  sheer  ignorance,  not 
in  malice. 

As  Jefferson  did  not  see  that  he  was  serving 
the  merchants  very  ill,  so  he  would  not  admit 
that  he  was  being  false  to  his  own  principles. 
The  Federalists  said  that  no  such  example  of 
**  strong  government  "  h;id  ever  been  seen  while 
they  were  in  power.  Their  embargoes  had 
been  brief  and  simple  affairs  in  comparison  with 


PRESIDENT:   SECOND  TERM.  307 

this  unlimited  and  monstrous  one.  But  they 
were  talking  of  what  was  really  matter  of  dis- 
cretion rather  than  of  principle ;  for  if  an  em- 
bargo was  a  lawful  measure,  its  duration  in  any 
especial  case  was  to  be  determined  by  a  judg- 
ment upon  the  exigencies  of  that  case.  The 
argument  that,  because  the  act  creating  this 
embargo  did  not  specify  its  length,  therefore  it 
did  not  "regulate"  but  destroyed  commerce, 
and  was  unconstitutional,  was  very  properly 
overruled  by  the  Supreme  Court.  But  Jeffer- 
son was  not  true  to  his  principles,  because,  of 
his  two  reasons,  one  at  least  was  thoroughly 
undemocratic.  The  endeavor  to  take  care  of 
the  property  and  persons  of  American  citizens 
by  shutting  them  up,  as  it  were,  within  doors 
was  the  extremity  of  paternal  government.  It 
might  have  borne  a  different  character  had  it 
been  a  war  measure,  but  within  a  very  short 
time  every  one  knew  that  it  was  not  a  war 
measure,  but  simply  an  act  of  paternity.  Jef- 
ferson constantly  spoke  of  it  in  this  light.  As 
such  it  was  not  only  undemocratic,  but  emi- 
nently foolish.  Jefferson  might  wisely  have  left 
to  the  merchants  the  care  both  of  their  profits 
and  of  their  principal.  They  were  not  a  stupid 
or  a  helpless  class,  and  they  understood  their 
business  far  better  than  he  did.  The  argu- 
ment was  advanced  by  Quincy  of  Massachu- 


308  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

setts ;  it  could  not  be  answered,  but  it  was  dis- 
regarded. 

Thus  it  appears  that  when,  through  Jeffer- 
son's influence,  the  embargo  was  imposed  it  was 
not  to  be  regarded  as  absolutely  a  sound  and 
wise  measure.  It  required  to  be  vindicated 
either  by  the  doing  of  certain  things  in  the 
United  States,  or  the  occurrence  of  certain 
events  in  England.  After  a  reasonable  time 
those  things  had  not  been  done  at  home  and 
those  events  had  not  taken  place  abroad.  For 
the  latter,  Jefferson  was  not  responsible  ;  for 
the  former,  he  was.  For  he  had  but  to  say  the 
word  to  Congress  and  he  would  have  been 
strictly  obeyed.  He  was  so  supreme  and  so 
well  known  to  be  a  strong  advocate  of  peace, 
that  had  he  asserted  the  necessity  of  creating 
a  navy  and  building  fortifications,  or  even  be- 
ginning hostilities,  these  steps  would  have  been 
taken  at  once. 

Jefferson's  biographers  narrate  with  pleasure 
the  at  first  enthusiastic  and  afterward  patient 
support  which  Congress  and  the  people  yielded 
to  the  embargo  policy,  as  if  this  constituted  his 
justification.  But  the  argument  is  unsatisfac- 
tory. It  was  Jefferson's  function  to  be  wiser 
than  the  people,  to  guide  and  instruct  them ;  or 
at  least  lie  assumed  this  duty.  Congress  and 
the  nation  persevered  in  the  embargo  for  the 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND  TERM.  309 

same  reason  that  they  had  enacted  and  ap- 
plauded it  in  the  first  instance  ;  and  that  reason 
had  been  forcibly  and  clearly  expressed  in  Mr. 
Adams'  statement  that  his  reliance  was  upon 
the  "  President's  responsibility."  Such  also 
was  the  reliance  of  the  embargo  majorities  in 
and  out  of  Congress.  Jefferson  at  first  invited 
and  afterward  encouraged  this  faith.  It  was 
not  until  after  the  miscarriage  and  unpopular- 
ity of  the  measure  had  become  unquestionable 
that  he  began  to  find  his  "  responsibility  "  irk- 
some and  to  seek  to  shift  it  from  his  wearied 
shoulders.  One  thing,  however,  it  is  fair  to 
say :  when  an  administration  blunders  it  usual- 
ly receives  sound  instruction  from  the  opposi- 
tion ;  Jefferson  did  not.  The  Federalists  were 
even  blinder  than  the  administrationists.  They 
showed  their  ignorance  of  the  true  bearing  of 
the  embargo  by  their  criticisms  upon  it.  Their 
horizon  also  was^  bounded  by  the  immediate  in- 
jury to  Great  Britain,  and  they  stigmatized  the 
measure  as  a  "  sly  and  cunning  "  endeavor  to 
render  surreptitious  aid  to  France.  They  were 
even  more  opposed  to  warlike  measures  than 
were  the  Democrats,  and  had  no  better  advice 
to  give  than  an  ignominious  submission  to  aH 
English  demands. 

The  embargo  message,  it  will  be  remembered, 
was  sent  in  to  Congress  on  December  18,  1807. 


310  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

On  March  23,  1808,  Jefferson  wrote  to  Levi 
Lincoln  of  Massachusetts,  that  "  it  appears  to 
be  approved,  even  by  the  Federalists  of  every 
quarter  except  yours.  The  alternative  was  be- 
tween that  and  war,  and  in  fact  it  is  the  last 
card  we  have  to  play  short  of  war."  By  June 
23,  1808,  he  wrote,  "  the  day  is  not  distant 
when  that  [war]  will  be  preferable  to  a  longer 
continuance  of  the  embargo."  By  August  9, 
we  get  glimpses  of  serious  popular  discontent. 
On  that  day  the  President  writes  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  War,  in  language  wonderfully  different 
from  that  which  he  had  held  at  the  time  of  the 
whiskey  insurrection,  and  with  a  spirit  that 
would  have  been  better  displayed  towards  trans- 
Atlantic  enemies  than  towards  suffering  Ameri- 
can citizens  :  — 

"  The  Tories  of  Boston  openly  threaten  insurrec- 
tion if  their  importation  of  flour  is  stopped.  The 
next  post  will  stop  it.  I  fear  your  Governor  is  not 
up  to  the  tone  of  these  parricides,  and  I  hope,  on  the 
first  symptom  of  an  open  opposition  of  the  law  by 
force,  you  will  fly  to  the  scene  and  aid  in  suppressing 
any  commotion." 

Jefferson  was  neither  awed  nor  instructed  by 
the  loud  grumbling  in  New  England.  The  day 
which  in  March  he  had  described  as  "  not  dis- 
tant" gave  little  promise  of  drawing  nearer. 
To  the  marine  interest  it  seemed  to  be  mys- 


PRESIDENT:   SECOND   TERM.  311 

tenously  established  in   a  perpetual  offing ;  it 
became  in  time  as  exasperating  as  a  mirage. 

By  September,  1808,  Jefferson  had  become 
hopeless  of  affecting  the  policy  of  England  by 
longer  persistence  in  the  embargo.  Mr.  Pinck- 
ney,  he  said,  inferred  from  a  conversation  with 
Canning  that  the  orders  might  be  repealed  : 
*'  but  I  have  little  faith  in  diplomatic  inferences 
and  less  in  Canning's  good  faith."  Still  the 
time  glided  on  until  Congress  met  on  November 
7.  The  whole  country  waited  anxiously  to  hear 
•what  Jefferson  would  say  to  that  body ;  would 
he  declare  that  "not  distant"  day  to  be  at 
length  near  at  hand  ?  would  the  disappointment 
abroad,  the  discontent  at  home,  and  later  the 
loss  by  his  party  of  all  the  New  England  States 
save  one  at  the  Presidential  election,  have  any 
weight  with  him  ?  His  message  was  non-com- 
mittal. He  stated  that  he  had  intimated  to 
England  that  a  withdrawal  of  her  Orders  in 
Council  would  be  met  by  a  suspension  of  the 
embargo  as  to  her,  whatever  might  be  the 
action  of  France ;  but  he  admitted  that  the 
English  cabinet  had  paid  no  attention  to  this 
communication.  In  a  word,  he  acknowledged 
that  his  "  candid  and  liberal  experiment  "  had 
"failed,"  and  said  that  now  it  must  "rest  with 
the  wisdom  of  Congress  to  decide  on  the  course 
best  adapted  "  to  the  existing  state  of  affairs. 


312  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Apparently  he  meant  to  give  no  more  advice 
and  to  take  no  more  responsibility.  He  plumed 
himself  a  little  because  the  embargo  had  "  dem- 
onstrated to  foreign  nations  the  moderation  and 
firmness  which  govern  our  councils."  But  he 
did  not  add  that  Great  Britain  had  watched 
with  exasperating  complacency  this  patient  en- 
durance with  which  the  United  States  had 
suffered  for  her  benefit.  Neither  did  he  men- 
tion that  when  our  minister  had  made  to  Mr. 
Canning  the  offer  to  repeal  the  embargo  if 
England  would  repeal  the  Orders,  that  sarcas- 
tic gentleman  had  replied  that  he  should  like  to 
help  the  Americans  to  get  rid  of  the  restrictions 
which  they  found  so  very  "  inconvenient," 
though  he  really  could  not  go  so  far  as  to  with- 
draw his  Orders  for  that  purpose.  Bonaparte 
also,  with  practical  irony,  had  issued  a  decree 
for  the  seizure  of  all  American  ships  found 
afloat,  out  of  friendship,  he  said,  to  the  United 
States,  to  aid  them  in  preventing  the  escape 
of  their  vessels  in  contravention  of  their  law. 
Jefferson,  having  no  humor  in  his  composition, 
did  not  amuse  Congress  by  repeating  these  re- 
marks. 

By  refraining  from  uttering  a  word  pointing 
towards  war,  Jefferson  made  it  plain  enough 
that  he  did  not  desire  it.  The  embargo,  from 
being  a  temporary  measure,  was  beginning  to 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND  TERM.      313 

be  embraced  by  him  as  a  policy  of  indefinite 
duration.  The  result  was  a  surprising  indica- 
tion of  his  almost  despotic  supremacy.  An 
enormous  majority  in  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives adopted  a  series  of  resolutions  indorsing 
the  continuance  of  the  embargo.  In  the  Sen- 
ate a  direct  resolution  to  repeal  it  received 
only  six  yeas  against  twenty -five  nays  ;  and  on 
December  21  that  body  passed  a  very  strong 
enforcing  bill.  But  it  was  not  long  before  the 
President  and  administrationists  got  alarming 
evidence  of  their  folly.  The  Massachusetts 
Legislature  condemned  the  enforcing  bill  as 
44  unjust,  oppressive,  and  unconstitutional,  and 
not  legally  binding."  Governor  Trumbull  of 
Connecticut  refused  to  comply  with  the  Presi- 
dent's requisition  for  militia  under  the  new  act, 
and  sent  to  the  Legislature  a  message  breath- 
ing the  spirit  of  nullification.  That  body,  in 
response,  passed  resolutions  similar  to  those  of 
Massachusetts.  Evasions  of  the  law  were  coun- 
tenanced by  public  opinion,  and  convictions 
could  not  be  got  before  juries.  Many  influ- 
ential Federalists  began  to  accustom  their 
minds  to  the  idea  of  secession,  if  not  actually 
to  form  definite  plans  for  it.  Of  this  men- 
acing temper  Jefferson  received  information. 
Whether  or  not  it  frightened  him  is  doubtful. 
His  conduct  henceforth  becomes  so  wavering 


314  THOMAS  JEFFERSON: 

that  his  true  sentiments  cannot  be  accurately 
ascertained.  In  November,  1808,  he  did  not 
desire  a  repeal.  On  January  14,  1809,  he  said 
that  the  objects  which  the  embargo  was  origi- 
nally designed  to  subserve  were  nearly  attained, 
so  that  the  measure  was  "  now  near  its  term." 
A  few  days  afterward  a  bill  was  passed  for  an 
extra  session  of  Congress  in  May  next,  with 
the  design  of  repealing  the  embargo  on  June  1, 
and  "  then  resuming  and  maintaining  by  force 
our  right  of  navigation."  This  apparently 
ought  to  have  pleased  Jefferson,  if  he  clung  to 
his  opinion  of  January  14  ;  but  it  did  not.  He 
still  hugged  the  vision  of  peace  with  painful 
tenacity,  and  treated  the  policy  of  hostility  as 
men  treat  old  age,  pushing  it  always  a  little  in 
advance  of  the  present  day.  He  moaned  some- 
what, because  the  exceptional  "  situation  of  the 
world,"  such  as  he  declared  never  had  been  be- 
fore and  probably  never  would  be  again,  had 
defeated  his  fair  policy.  "  If  we  go  to  war 
now,"  he  complained,  "I  fear  we  may  renounce 
forever  the  hope  of  seeing  an  end  of  our  na- 
tional debt.  If  we  can  keep  at  peace  eight 
years  longer,  our  income,  liberated  from  debt, 
will  be  adequate  to  any  war,  without  new 
taxes  or  loans,  and  our  position  and  increasing 
strength  will  put  us  hors  dTinsulte  from  any  na- 
tion." Yet  it  was  his  friend  and  the  leader  of 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND   TERM.  315 

the  admin istrationists  in  the  House,  Nicholas 
of  Virginia,  who,  on  January  25,  introduced 
resolutions  contemplating  a  repeal  of  the  em- 
bargo on  June  1.  An  eager  debate  upon  these 
resulted  in  a  breaking  up  and  reorganizing  of 
parties  and  cliques  which  was  quite  kaleido- 
scopic. The  date  was  finally  set  at  March  4. 
This  vote  was  regarded  as  a  defeat  of  the  ad- 
ministration, but  only  in  so  far  as  it  made  the 
date  of  repeal  earlier  than  the  contemplated 
date  of  May  1  by  nearly  three  months  —  not 
a  serious  period.  Yet  eighteen  months  later, 
partly  probably  in  reference  to  this  vote,  and 
partly  to  subsequent  votes  of  a  like  tenor,  Jef- 
ferson wrote :  u  The  Federalists  during  their 
short-lived  ascendency  have  nevertheless,  by 
forcing  from  us  the  repeal  of  the  embargo, 
inflicted  a  wound  on  our  interests  which  can 
never  be  cured."  It  looks  very  much  as  though 
the  President  did  not  know  his  own  mind  ;  if 
he  did,  certainly  he  succeeded  in  preventing 
posterity  from  finding  it  out.  The  truth  is  that 
he  knew  his  policy  to  have  failed,  yet  could  not 
abandon  it.  He  seems  to  have  been  bitterly 
disappointed,  and  a  little  frightened.  He  was 
pained  to  see  his  party  defeated,  but  his  chief 
anxiety  was  becoming  personal,  centring  in  the 
desire  to  escape  from  his  embarrassing  position. 
He  had  not  longed  more  to  get  out  of  the  gov- 


316  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ernorship  of  Virginia  than  he  now  longed  to 
get  out  of  the  presidency.  At  times  he  resolved 
not  to  try  to  make  up  his  mind,  not  to  do  or 
advise  anything.  Even  in  December,  1808,  he 
said  :  "  I  have  thought  it  right  to  take  no  part 
myself  in  proposing  measures,  the  execution  of 
which  will  devolve  on  my  successor.  I  am, 
therefore,  chiefly  an  unmeddling  listener  to 
what  others  say."  In  other  words  he  renounced 
the  duty  of  governing  the  country  for  nearly 
three  months  before  he  was  lawfully  relieved 
from  it.  Toward  the  close  of  January  he  reit- 
erated, "  I  am  now  so  near  retiring  that  I  take 
no  part  in  affairs  beyond  the  expression  of  an 
opinion.  I  think  it  fair  that  my  successor 
should  now  originate  those  measures,  of  which 
he  will  be  charged  with  the  execution  and  re- 
sponsibility. .  .  .  Five  weeks  more  will  relieve 
me  from  a  drudgery  to  which  I  am  no  longer 
equal." 

These  protestations  may  be  believed.  Jef- 
ferson appears  in  no  degree  responsible  for  the 
subsequent  action  of  Congress  in  curtailing  the 
duration  of  that  measure  which  had  originally 
been  his  own.  On  March  4, 1809,  he  was  prob- 
ably almost  as  glad  to  leave  the  presidency  as 
eight  years  before  he  had  been  to  enter  it.  He 
was  released  from  disappointment,  from  failure, 
and  from  imminent  humiliation.  During  the 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND  TERM.  317 

closing  months  of  his  administration  he  had  pre- 
sented a  pitiable  spectacle  of  a  ruler  helplessly 
confounded  by  the  miscarriage  of  a  policy.  Yet 
his  personal  prestige,  though  diminished,  was 
still  immense.  Probably  three  quarters  of  the 
nation  believed  him  the  greatest,  wisest,  and 
most  virtuous  of  living  statesmen.  He  had  the 
rare  pleasure  of  transmitting  the  government 
to  a  successor  over  whom  his  personal  influence 
was  very  great,  who  was  in  thorough  political 
sympathy  with  him,  and  towards  whom  he  suc- 
ceeded in  maintaining  a  personal  friendliness 
without  example  in  the  history  of  the  country. 
He  had  even  to  a  considerable  extent  enjoyed 
the  rare  privilege  of  naming  that  successor.  It 
is  true  that  Madison  was  pointed  out  for  the 
place  by  his  official  position,  his  eminent  ser- 
vices, and  his  abundant  ability  ;  yet  at  one  time 
a  strong  effort  was  made  to  set  up  Monroe  as  a 
competitor.  The  movement  made  a  brief  show 
of  becoming  formidable.  Jefferson  avowed  that 
he  would  take  no  sides  as  between  two  men, 
each  of  whom  he  loved  and  trusted.  But  Mon- 
roe entertained  uncomfortable  suspicions,  which 
were  fostered  by  the  malicious  communications 
of  persons  professing  to  be  friends  to  him,  and 
who  certainly  were  enemies  of  the  President. 
A  slight  coolness  ensued  in  spite  of  Jefferson's 
protestations  -,  but  it  did  not  last  long.  Jef- 


318  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ferson  was  the  most  conciliatory  of  men,  and 
Monroe  had  really  no  choice  but  to  be  pacified. 
Jefferson  probably  told  the  truth  when  he  said 
that  he  took  no  part  for  either  competitor. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  he  was  in  any  way 
active  in  Madison's  behalf.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  Madison  had  long  be- 
fore been  designed  by  him  for  the  position,  that 
this  was  perfectly  well  understood,  and  that  the 
knowledge  of  his  wishes  was  conclusive. 

Jefferson  had  been  earnestly  besought  by 
many  and  influential  bodies  of  citizens  to  be- 
come a  candidate  for  a  third  term.  Probably 
he  could  have  had  the  honor,  had  he  sought  it. 
But  he  declined  promptly  and  without  the  least 
wavering.  He  had  already  stretched  his 
avowed  principles  concerning  the  duration  of 
incumbency  quite  far  enough  ;  neither  could  he 
now  add  anything  to  a  fame  so  great  that  it 
could  be  increased  more  by  declining  than  by 
accepting  further  distinctions.  Moreover  the 
times  began  to  look  stormy  and  uncomfortable. 
He  would  be  sixty-five  years  old  at  the  close  of 
his  second  term ;  he  had  been  in  public  life, 
with  trifling  interruptions,  for  about  forty  years  ; 
he  had  enjoyed  an  amount  and  constancy  of 
good  fortune  rare  in  any  polity  and  almost  un- 
precedented in  a  republic.  He  retired  with 
a  reputation  and  popularity  hardly  inferior  to 


PRESIDENT:  SECOND  TERM.  319 

that  of  Washington.  He  could  dictate  the 
foreign  and  domestic  policy  of  seven  millions  of 
free  and  critical  people,  simply  by  virtue  of  the 
personal  confidence  reposed  in  his  integrity  and 
judgment.  It  is  difficult  to  suggest  any  other 
example  parallel  to  this.  No  personal  influence 
of  a  civilian,  not  nourished  in  any  degree  by 
successful  war,  has  ever  been  so  great  and  so 
permanent  over  our  people.  In  a  fair  measure 
this  was  deservedly  the  case,  for  with  all  his 
faults  Jefferson  had  very  civilized  ideas  and  was 
the  true  friend  of  the  commonalty.  While  he 
regarded  their  welfare  as  the  noblest  object  of 
government,  he  did  not  confer  benefits  upon 
them  as  boons,  like  a  political  charity  done  by 
superiors  to  inferiors.  He  believed  in  them ; 
he- esteemed  their  intelligence  ;  he  not  only  re- 
spected their  power,  but  he  desired  to  see  them 
use  it,  because  he  was  firmly  convinced  that 
they  would  use  it  well.  He  was  called  a  dema- 
gogue, but  he  was  not,  if  that  word  indicates 
disingenuousness  in  preaching  popular  doc- 
trines. Jefferson  had  a  profound  and  honest 
faith  in  his  avowed  principles,  expecting  indeed 
to  gain  by  them,  but  only  because  he  thought 
they  were  fundamentally  right  and  therefore 
sure  in  time  to  prevail.  He  differed  from  the 
time-serving  politician,  because  he  staked  his 
individual  success  upon  the  success  of  what  he 


320  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

deemed  intrinsically  right  principles.  He  dif- 
fered even  from  the  statesman  who  acts  con- 
scientiously upon  every  measure,  inasmuch  as, 
beyond  devising  specific  measures,  he  set  forth 
a  broad  faith  or  religion  in  statesmanship,  mak- 
ing special  measures  only  single  blocks  in  the 
wide  pavement  of  his  road.  He  was  sometimes 
insincere,  often  inconsistent,  generally  prone  to 
shun  hurt  and  danger  to  himself;  but- from  the 
time  when  he  began  his  great  reforms  in  the 
Virginia  House  of  Burgesses,  the  general  ten- 
dency and  large  lines  of  his  purposes  and  policy 
held  with  much  steadiness  in  the  noble  direction 
of  a  perfect  humanitarianism.  To  this  day  the 
multitude  cherish  and  revere  his  memory,  and 
in  so  doing  pay  a  just  debt  of  gratitude  to  a 
friend  who  not  only  served  them,  as  many  have 
done,  but  who  honored  and  respected  them,  as 
very  few  have  done. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

AT  MONTICELLO  :  POLITICAL  OPINIONS. 

JEFFEKSON'S  interest  in  public  affairs  had  be- 
come a  part  of  his  nature  and  could  not  sud- 
denly cease.  Accordingly  in  his  retirement  he 
corresponded  constantly  with  the  new  Presi- 
dent, exercising  an  authority  in  the  Republican 
party  not  altogether  unlike  that  which  had  been 
exercised  by  Hamilton,  in  private  life,  over 
the  Federalists.  But  in  time  this  relationship 
caused  fault-finding,  and  gave  rise  to  disagree- 
able insinuations  that  Madison  was  only  the 
puppet  of  the  ex-President.  Of  course  Madi- 
son was  no  man's  puppet,  but  such  language 
was  so  fitted  to  wound  his  feelings  and  weaken 
his  prestige  that  Jefferson,  from  a  sense  of 
delicacy,  thereafterward  greatly  curtailed  his 
communications. 

A  few  of  Jefferson's  opinions  on  public  affairs 
deserve  to  be  noted.  He  anticipated  for  the 
new  administration  a  peaceful  and  prosperous 
career.  War,  indeed,  still  hovered  in  his  view 
as  a  possibly  "  less  losing  business  than  unre- 
stricted depredation;"  but  in  his  desire  to  avoid 

21 


322  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

it  he  advised,  in  the  "present  maniac  state  of 
Europe,"  not  to  "  estimate  the  point  of  honor 
by  the  ordinary  scale."  Yet  he  was  against 
making  permanent  concessions  of  principle  ;  and 
when  a  commercial  treaty  was  in  prospect  he 
urged  Madison  not  to  allow  the  English  to 
"  whip  us  into  a  treaty  "  as  "  they  did  in  Jay's 
case  and  were  near  doing  in  Monroe's.'' 

He  indulged  in  a  wonderful  vision  of  terri- 
torial aggrandizement.  Bonaparte,  he  said, 

"  would  give  us  the  Floridas  to  withhold  inter- 
course witli  the  residue  of  those  [the  Spanish]  colo- 
nies. But  that  is  no  price  ;  because  they  are  ours  in 
the  first  moment  of  the  first  war  ;  and  until  a  war  they 
are  of  no  particular  necessity  to  us.  But,  although 
with  difficulty,  he  will  consent  to  our  receiving  Cuba 
into  our  Union.  .  .  .  That  would  be  a  price,  and  I 
would  immediately  erect  a  column  on  the  southern- 
most limit  of  Cuba  and  inscribe  on  it  ne  plus  ultra  as 
to  us  in  that  direction.  We  should  then  have  only 
to  include  the  North  in  our  confederacy,  which  would 
be  of  course  in  the  first  war,  and  we  should  have 
such  an  empire  for  liberty  as  she  has  never  surveyed 
since  the  creation  ;  and  I  am  persuaded  no  constitu- 
tion was  ever  before  so  well  calculated  as  ours  for 
extensive  empire  and  self-government." 

In  1809  this  was  tolerably  gorgeous  day- 
dreaming ! 

He  had  by  this  time  so  far  modified  his  old 


AT  MONTICELLO:  POLITICAL   OPINIONS.    323 

hostility  to  commerce  and  manufactures  as  to 
say :  "  An  equilibrium  of  agriculture,  manu- 
factures and  commerce  is  certainly  become 
essential  to  our  independence.  Manufactures 
sufficient  for  our  consumption,  of  what  we  raise 
the  raw  material,  (and  no  more)  ;  commerce 
sufficient  to  carry  the  surplus  produce  of  agri- 
culture beyond  our  own  consumption,  to  a  mar- 
ket for  exchanging  it  for  articles  we  cannot 
raise,  (and  no  more)." 

He  wrote  to  Gallatin  urging  him  to  be  per- 
sistent in  extinguishing  the  national  debt. 
"  The  discharge  of  the  debt,"  he  said,  "  is  vital 
to  the  destinies  of  our  government,  and  it  hangs 
on  Mr.  Madison  and  yourself  alone.  ...  I  had 
always  cherished  the  idea  that  you  would  fix  on 
that  object  the  measure  of  your  fame  and  of  the 
gratitude  which  our  country  will  owe  you."  He 
had  a  warm  regard  for  Gallatin,  and  when  in 
the  winter  of  1810-11  attacks  were  made  on  the 
Secretary,  and  seams  began  to  open  in  the  party, 
Jefferson  exerted  all  his  authority  to  stay  the 
disagreement.  He  preached  conciliation  elo- 
quently, and  laid  down  a  rule  of  adherence  to 
party  which  expressed  happily  the  middle 
course  between  excessive  individual  independ- 
ence and  a  sacrifice  of  conscientious  opinion. 

In  the  spring  of  1812  Jefferson  saw  that  war 
was  imminent.  "  Our  two  countries,"  he  wrote 


324  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

to  an  English  friend,  "  are  to  be  at  war,  but 
not  you  and  I.  And  why  should  our  two  coun- 
tries be  at  war  when  by  peace  we  can  be  so 
much  more  useful  to  one  another  ?  Surely  the 
world  will  acquit  our  government  from  having 
sought  it.  Never  before  has  there  been  an 
instance  of  a  nation  bearing  so  much  as  we 
have  borne."  This  was  true  enough  ;  Jefferson 
and  Madison  had  carried  endurance  far  past  the 
praiseworthy  limit ;  they  were  not  accountable 
for  the  blood-letting  to  come. 

Jefferson  contemplated  in  his  usual  sanguine 
temper  a  war  which  turned  out  so  very  disas- 
trously. He  modestly  hoped  that  we  should 
confine  ourselves  to  the  defence  of  our  harbors 
and  to  the  conquest  of  the  British  possessions 
in  North  America  !  "  The  acquisition  of  Can- 
ada," he  said,  "  this  year,  as  far  as  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Quebec,  would  be  a  mere  matter  of 
marching,  and  would  give  us  experience  for 
the  attack  of  Halifax  the  next,  and  the  final 
expulsion  of  England  from  the  American  conti- 
nent." Of  course  he  showed  his  native  incapac- 
ity for  military  affairs.  "  The  partisans  of  Eng- 
land here,"  he  said,  "have  endeavored  much  to 
goad  us  into  the  folly  of  choosing  the  ocean  in- 
stead of  the  land  for  the  theatre  of  war.  That 
would  be  to  meet  their  strength  with  our  own 
weakness,  instead  of  their  weakness  with  our 


AT  MONTICELLO:  POLITICAL  OPINIONS.    325 

strength."  Quite  the  reverse  of  this  proved  to 
be  the  case.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  he  was 
"  importuned  from  several  quarters  to  become 
a  candidate  for  the  presidency  in  1812."  So 
blind  was  the  admiration  of  his  partisans ! 
Further,  Mr.  Randall  also  tells  us,  "  on  the 
authority  of  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Madison, 
who  heard  the  fact  from  his  own  lips,"  that 
Madison  offered  the  position  of  Secretary  of 
State  to  Jefferson.  Upon  this  subject  Jefferson 
wrote  to  Duane,  October  1,  1812 :  "  I  profess 
so  much  of  the  Roman  principle  as  to  deem  it 
honorable  for  the  general  of  yesterday  to  act  as 
a  corporal  to-day,  if  his  services  can  be  useful 
to  his  country ;  holding  that  to  be  false  pride 
which  postpones  the  public  good  to  any  private 
or  personal  considerations.  But  I  am  past  ser- 
vice. The  hand  of  age  is  upon  me.  The  de- 
cay of  bodily  faculties  apprises  me  that  those  of 
the  mind  cannot  but  be  impaired."  He  con- 
tinues in  this  melancholy  strain,  and  concludes 
by  expressing  his  satisfaction  that  he  "  retains 
understanding  enough  to  be  sensible  how  much 
of  it  he  has  lost  and  to  avoid  exposing  himself 
as  a  spectacle  for  the  pity  of  his  friends ;  that 
he  has  surmounted  the  difficult  point  of  know- 
ing when  to  retire."  This  might  have  been  an 
excuse,  but  probably  was  not ;  for  he  was  now 
constantly  harping  upon  the  failure  of  his  fac- 
ulties. 


326  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

He  was  glad  finally  to  have  peace  concluded  ,• 
he  hoped  that,  "  having  spared  the  pride  of 
England  her  formal  acknowledgment  of  the 
atrocity  of  impressment,  .  .  .  she  will  concur  in 
a  convention  for  relinquishing  it."  Otherwise 
the  pacification  could  be  nothing  more  than  a 
"  truce,  de terminable  on  the  first  act  of  impress- 
ment of  an  American  citizen."  He  deprecated 
"  the  maniac  course  of  hostility  and  hatred  " 
pursued  by  England  toward  the  United  States. 

"  I  hope  in  God  she  will  change.  There  is  not  a 
nation  on  the  globe  with  whom  I  have  more  earn- 
estly wished  a  friendly  intercourse  on  equal  condi- 
tions. ...  I  know  that  their  creatures  represent  me 
as  personally  an  enemy  to  England.  But  fools  only 
can  believe  this,  or  those  who  think  me  a  fool.  I  am 
an  enemy  to  her  insults  and  injuries.  I  am  an  en- 
emy to  the  flagitious  principles  of  her  administration, 
and  to  those  which  govern  her  conduct  towards  other 
nations.  But  would  she  give  to  morality  some  place 
in  her  political  code,  and  especially  would  she  exer- 
cise decency  and,  at  least,  neutral  passions  towards 
us,  there  is  not,  I  repeat  it,  a  people  on  earth  with 
whom  I  would  sacrifice  so  much  to  be  in  friend- 
ship." 

Certainly  no  man  was  ever  less  prone  to 
nourish  a  feud  than  was  Jefferson.  He  always 
wanted  to  conciliate,  to  forgive,  to  restore  lost 
or  shattered  friendships.  About  this  time  he 


AT  MONTICELLO:  POLITICAL   OPINIONS.    327 

made  up  his  old  quarrel  with  John  Adams,  and 
was  corresponding  \\ith  him  most  cordially. 
This  is  only  one  of  many  instances  of  an  attrac- 
tive trait  in  his  character,  giving  a  most  ami- 
able notion  of  him,  —  yet  he  left  behind  him 
those  venomous  "Anas,"  among  the  most  un- 
fortunate of  all  deeds  of  the  pen.  Beneath  an 
universal  good-will  it  is  shocking  to  find  rank- 
ling a  vindictiveness  so  relentless  and  so  igno- 
bly indulged.  How  differently  could  we  think 
of  him  were  it  not  for  this  bequest  which,  like 
the  cloven  foot,  peeps  out  from  beneath  his  ap- 
parent guise  of  broad  charity  and  kindliness. 

In  1820  he  was  profoundly  disturbed  by  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  which  seemed  to  him 
pregnant  with  a  brood  of  terrible  retributive 
disasters. 

"  This  momentous  question,"  he  said,  "  like  a  fire- 
bell  in  the  night,  awakened  and  filled  me  with  terror. 
I  considered  it  at  once  as  the  knell  of  the  Union.  It 
is  hushed,  indeed,  for  the  moment.  But  this  is  a 
reprieve  only,  not  a  final  sentence."  "  The  coinci- 
dence of  a  marked  principle,  moral  and  political,  with 
a  geographical  line,  once  conceived,  I  feared  would 
never  more  be  obliterated  from  the  mind ;  that  it 
would  be  recurring  on  every  occasion,  and  renewing 
irritations  until  it  would  kindle  such  mutual  and 
mortal  hatred  as  to  render  separation  preferable  to 
eternal  discord." 


328  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

He  foresaw  civil  war.  "  Are  we  then  to  see 
again  Athenian  and  Lacedaemonian  confedera- 
cies ?  To  wage  another  Peloponnesian  war  ?  " 
Yet  though  he  was  thus  correctly  prescient  of 
the  awful  future,  he  was  sadly  blind  alike  to 
the  character  and  to  the  result  of  the  conflict. 
"  It  is  not,"  he  said,  "  a  moral  question,  but 
one  merely  of  power.  Its  object  is  to  raise  a 
geographical  principle  for  the  choice  of  a  Pres- 
ident, and  tljie  noise  will  be  kept  up  till  that  is 
effected."  The  moral  element  was  still  far  be- 
neath the  surface,  and  common  men  might  not 
have  suspected  its  existence  ;  but  Jefferson 
should  have  done  so.  He  was  not  more  ex- 
cusable when  he  anticipated  that  the  North 
would  be  the  section  to  suffer  most  from  the 
schism.  The  Northerners,  he  predicted,  "  will 
find  the  line  of  separation  very  different  from 
their  36°  of  latitude,  and  as  manufacturing  and 
navigating  States  they  will  have  quarrelled 
with  their  bread  and  butter;  and  I  fear  not 
that  after  a  little  trial  they  will  think  better  of 
it,  and  return  to  the  embraces  of  their  natural 
and  best  friends."  Such  is  prophecy  in  states- 
manship. 

Further,  he  was  decidedly  of  the  opinion  that 
in  the  compromise  Congress  interfered  unjusti- 
fiably with  states'  rights.  He  condemned  the 
endeavor  "  to  regulate  the  condition  of  the  dif- 


AT  MONTICELLO:  POLITICAL   OPINIONS.    329 

ferent  descriptions  of  men  composing  a  State. 
This  certainly  is  the  exclusive  right  of  every 
State,  which  nothing  in  the  Constitution  has 
taken  from  them  and  given  to  the  general  gov- 
ernment." His  views  concerning  emancipation 
had  apparently  undergone  little  change  since 
the  early  days  when  he  had  concocted  a  scheme 
for  it,  except  that  apparently  he  gave  greater 
weight  now  than  previously  to  the  practical 
difficulties.  "  The  cession  of  that  kind  of  prop- 
erty [slaves],  for  so  it  is  misnamed,  is  a  baga- 
telle which  would  not  cost  me  a  second  thought, 
if  in  that  way  a  general  emancipation  and  ex- 
patriation could  be  effected  ;  and  gradually  and 
with  due  care,  I  think,  it  might  be.  But  as  it 
is  we  have  the  wolf  by  the  ears,  and  can  neither 
hold  him  nor  safely  let  him  go." 

In  1821  Jefferson  had  a  sharp  revival  of  his 
old  jealousy  of  the  judiciary,  and  published 
some  letters  on  the  subject.  Later,  during  the 
administration  of  J.  Q.  Adams,  he  was  also 
greatly  annoyed  by  the  complete  victory  of  the 
policy  of  internal  improvement.  He  now  gave 
up  this  battle  as  hopelessly  lost  to  his  side. 
«'  The  torrent  of  general  opinion "  he  recog- 
nized as  "  irresistible."  He  was  very  mournful 
about  it.  He  could  not  reconcile  himself  to  a 
liberal  construction  which  seemed  to  him  a  per- 
version of  the  Constitution,  no  matter  how 


830  THOMAS  JEFFERSON'. 

great  advantages  could  be  gained  thereby.  Ap- 
parently lie  was  also  much  less  tolerant  of  the 
principle  itself  than  he  had  been  when  the  en- 
terprises would  have  fallen  beneath  his  own 
control,  and  would  have  brought  popularity  to 
his  own  administration.  He  suggested  an  ab- 
surd way  of  preserving  the  sanctity  of  his  doc- 
trine in  the  abstract,  while  it  was  being  shat- 
tered to  fragments  in  practice.  He  drew  up 
for  the  Virginia  Legislature  a  verbose  "  Dec- 
laration and  Protest,"  reciting  the  powerless- 
ness  of  Congress  in  the  premises,  and  closing 
with  an  enactment  in  general  terms,  whereby 
the  State  ratified  and  indorsed,  by  virtue  of  its 
own  supreme  power  and  authority  in  such  mat- 
ters, all  the  acts  for  internal  improvements 
which  Congress  should  pass  in  the  future.  This 
was  silly,  but  Jefferson  was  greatly  perturbed 
by  what  he  saw  going  forward.  He  deemed 
the  building  of  canals  and  roads  with  the  na- 
tional money  a  breach  of  the  national  compact 
such  as  might  in  time  even  justify  a  dissolu- 
tion. For  this,  he  said,  the  provocation  was  not 
yet  sufficient ;  it  was  "  the  last  resource,  not  to 
be  thought  of  until  much  longer  and  greater 
sufferings;"  but  it  was  a  possibility  in  the  days 
to  come.  His  alarm  was  groundless,  and  his 
cure  useless.  But  Jefferson  was  growing  old. 
This  is  the  last  of  his  interferences  in  public 
affairs  which  is  worthy  of  mention. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

AT     MONTICELLO:     PERSONAL     MATTEES. — 
DEATH. 

THERE  was  a  strong  theatrical  tinge  in  Jef- 
ferson's composition.  When  he  retired  from 
the  presidency  it  was  to  pose  during  his  old 
age  as  the  "  Sage  of  Monticello,"  the  good  and 
wise  old  man,  the  benefactor  of  his  kind,  the 
statesman-philosopher.  He  recognized  that  it 
was  proper,  nay,  incumbent,  and  even  inevitable, 
to  assume  this  role ;  he  did  it  readily,  without 
anxiety  as  to  his  perfect  success  in  the  part, 
and  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  he  played  it 
to  the  end  very  well.  He  at  first  expected  to 
be  the  " hermit  of  Monticello;"  but  he  soon 
found  that  he  was  of  that  class  of  hermits 
whose  fame  is  so  great  among  the  nations  that 
all  the  world  flocks  to  gaze  at  them,  so  that  re- 
treat becomes  a  series  of  popular  levees.  The 
door  of  his  mansion,  hospitable  even  beyond 
Virginian  precedent,  stood  ever  open,  and  the 
stream  of  visitors  passed  ceaselessly  in  and  out. 
Relatives  came  and  brought  their  families, 
fathers  and  mothers  with  broods  of  children, 


332  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

and  stayed  for  months ;  friends  treated  the 
generous  roofrtree  as  their  own  ;  people  of  dis- 
tinction or  good  social  position  claimed  and 
received  briefer  entertainment.  All  this  was 
pleasant,  and  the  gratification  given  by  such 
visitors  generally  more  than  offset  the  inconven- 
iences. But  it  was  less  agreeable  to  have  the 
imperfectly  civilized  people  at  large  behave  as 
if  Monticello  were  the  public  domain  where 
the  ex-President  was  kept  always  on  exhibition. 
Every  one  in  the  United  States,  of  any  enter- 
prise, sooner  or  later  found  his  way  to  this  ex- 
traordinary "  hermitage."  The  following  amus- 
ing sketch  of  the  household  occurs  in  a  letter 
quoted  in  Randall's  Life :  — 

"  We  had  persons  from  abroad,  from  all  the  States 
of  the  Union,  from  every  part  of  the  State,  men, 
women,  and  children.  In  short,  almost  every  day  for 
at  least  eight  months  of  the  year  brought  its  contin- 
gent of  guests.  People  of  wealth,  fashion,  men  in 
office,  professional  men,  military  and  civil,  lawyers, 
doctors,  Protestant  clergymen,  Catholic  priests,  mem- 
bers of  Congress,  foreign  ministers,  missionaries,  In- 
dian agents,  tourists,  travellers,  artists,  strangers, 
friends.  Some  came  from  affection  and  respect,  some 
from  curiosity,  some  to  give  or  receive  advice  or  in- 
struction, some  from  idleness,  some  because  others 
set  the  example." 

The  crowds  actually  invaded  the  house  itself, 


AT  MONTICELLO:  PERSONAL  MATTERS.    333 

and  stood  in  the  corridors  to  watch  Jefferson 
pass  from  one  room  to  another ;  they  swarmed 
over  the  grounds  and  gaped  at  him  as  he  walked 
beneath  his  trees  or  sat  on  his  piazza.  All  this 
was  flattering,  but  it  was  also  extremely  irk- 
some ;  it  too  closely  resembled  the  existence  of 
the  beast  in  the  menagerie.  Yet  though  Jeffer- 
son sometimes  fled  from  it  for  a  few  days  of 
hiding  at  a  distant  farm,  he  appears  wonder- 
fully seldom  to  have  been  lacking  in  the  patient 
benignity  which  his  part  imposed  upon  him. 
The  most  impertinent  had  their  gaze  out  unmo- 
lested ;  only  a  few  complaints  were  made  pri- 
vately to  friends. 

In  time  that  came  to  pass  ^  which  Jefferson 
ought  to  have  foreseen  in  the  early  stages  of 
this  fashion  of  life.  He  was  keeping  a  large 
and  naturally  a  very  popular  hotel,  at  which  no 
guest  ever  thought  of  paying  his  score.  The 
housekeeper  at  times  had  to  provide  fifty  beds ; 
inevitably  the  detail  of  slaves  for  the  house  and 
stables  left  few  field  hands  for  productive  labor ; 
all  the  produce  of  the  Monticello  estate  was 
eaten  up  by  the  guests ;  and  of  course  much 
other  food  and  drink  had  to  be  purchased,  and 
much  wear  and  tear  to  be  made  good.  The 
form  of  entertainment  was  necessarily  simple ; 
yet  Jefferson  lived  in  what  was  deemed  good 
style  in  that  time  and  neighborhood.  Inevita- 


334  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

bly  beneath  these  reducing  processes  his  fortune 
steadily  and  much  too  rapidly  shrank.  He  had 
also  experienced  some  severe  blows.  For  ex- 
ample, the  pre-revolutionary  debt  upon  his 
wife's  estate  was  due  in  England,  and  the  story 
of  its  payment  was  very  hard,  though  very 
honorable  to  him.  In  order  to  meet  it  he  sold 
some  of  her  lands  at  a  gold  valuation,  but 
finally  got  the  money  in  paper  "  worth  two  and 
a  half  per  cent,  of  its  nominal  value."  This 
sum  he  deposited  in  the  state  treasury  under  a 
statute,  made  during  the  Revolution,  whereby 
debts  owing  to  English  subjects  could  be  paid 
to  the  State,  which  then  assumed  the  indebt- 
edness and  acquitted  the  debtor.  But  after  the 
close  of  the  war*  he  declined  to  avail  himself 
of  this  acquittance. 

"  I  am  desirous  of  arranging  with  you,"  he  wrote 
to  the  creditors,  "such  just  and  practicable  condi- 
tions as  will  ascertain  to  you  the  terms  at  which  you 
will  receive  my  part  of  your  debt,  and  give  me  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  you  are  contented. 
What  the  laws  of  Virginia  are  or  may  be,  will  in  no 
wise  influence  my  conduct.  Substantial  justice  is  my 
object,  as  decided  by  reason  and  not  by  authority 
or  compulsion.  ...  I  am  ready  to  remove  all  diffi- 
culty arising  from  this  deposit,  to  take  back  to  myself 
the  demand  against  the  State,  and  to  consider  the 
deposit  as  originally  made  for  myself  and  not  for 
you." 


AT  MONT  I  CELLO:  PERSONAL  MATTERS.    335 

Thus  the  discharge  of  £3,749  12s.  ultimately 
"swept  nearly  half  of  his  estate,"  while  he  got 
back  from  the  state  treasury  so  littlo  that  he 
was  wont  to  say  concerning  the  land  which  ho 
had  parted  with,  that  ho  had  "  sold  it  for  a 
great  coat."  This  costly  honesty  appears  the 
more  creditable,  because  Jefferson's  financial 
resources  had  been  much  diminished  by  the 
ravages  of  the  British  troops,  of  which  the 
money  value,  says  Mr.  Randall,  "more  than 
equalled  the  amount  of  his  British  debt  and  its 
interest  during  the  war." 

Subsequently  during  his  public  life  Jefferson 
sometimes  lived  on  his  salary,  sometimes  ex- 
ceeded it,  and  only  while  he  was  Vice-President 
saved  anything  from  it.  Mr.  Randall  estimates 
his  property  at  $200,000  when  ho  left  the  presi- 
dency, but  does  not  mako  it  perfectly  clear 
whether  or  not  this  ought  to  be  reduced  by  the 
deduction  of  some  indebtedness.  It  was  a  hand- 
some amount ;  but  a  part  of  it  consisted  of  his 
house  and  furniture,  and  a  very  expensive  li- 
brary ;  the  remainder  was  lands  and  slaves, 
from  which,  after  the  Monticello  estate  and 
negroes  had  been  substantially  neutralized,  as 
has  been  above  explained,  the  net  income  was 
far  from  equal  to  the  demands  upon  it.  Times 
and  crops  also  often  went  against  him.  When 
the  owner  of  property  thus  invested  once  begins 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

to  overrun  his  income,  he  enters  on  the  road  to 
ruin.  By  degrees  Jefferson  became  a  poor  man, 
and  indeed  worse  than  poor,  since  he  was  in- 
volved in  pecuniary  embarrassments.  Before 
matters  had  reached  this  stage  he  had  sold  his 
library  to  Congress  for  $23,950  ;  but  this  restor- 
ative did  not  long  check  the  decline.  In  1819 
an  indorsement  which  he  had  made  for  his 
friend,  Wilson  Gary  Nicholas,  cost  him  820,000. 
This  blow  consummated  his  ruin.  Nicholas  is 
said  to  have  been  not  blameworthy  in  the  mat- 
ter, but  the  victim  of  ill  fortune ;  and  to  have 
been  crushed  at  the  disaster  which  he  brought 
upon  his  friend.  The  kindness  and  delicacy 
with  which  Jefferson  took  especial  pains  to  treat 
him  were  remarkable,  and  on  one  or  two  occa- 
sions were  actually  touching. 

But  debts  must  be  paid,  no  matter  how  hon- 
ored, good,  or  distinguished  is  the  debtor,  and 
ex- President  Jefferson  occupied  no  better  posi- 
tion than  any  other  planter  who  was  very  near 
insolvency.  It  was  an  unfavorable  time  for 
turning  a  large  estate  into  money ;  and  a  sale  in 
ordinary  fashion  would  leave  Jefferson  substan- 
tially a  pauper,  even  if  not  still  a  debtor.  To 
avoid  this  he  desired  to  resort  to  a  device  then 
scarcely  obsolete  in  Virginia.  He  petitioned 
the  Legislature  for  leave  to  dispose  of  his  prop- 
erty at  a  fair  valuation  by  lottery.  By  this 


AT  MONTICELLO:  PERSONAL  MATTERS.    337 

means,  he  said,  "  I  can  save  the  house  of  Monti- 
cello,  and  a  farm  adjoining,  to  end  my  days  in 
and  bury  my  bones.  If  not,  I  must  sell  house 
and  all  here  and  carry  my  family  to  Bedford, 
where  I  have  not  even  a  log  hut  to  put  my 
head  into."  When  the  proposition  was  broached 
some  opposition  was  threatened,  and  its  suc- 
cess was  not  certain.  Jefferson  wrote,  with  evi- 
dent humiliation,  "  I  perceive  there  are  greater 
doubts  than  I  had  apprehended,  whether  the 
Legislature  will  indulge  my  request  to  them. 
It  is  a  part  of  my  mortification  to  perceive  that 
I  had  so  far  overvalued  myself  as  to  have 
counted  on  it  with  too  much  confidence.  I 
see,"  he  sadly  adds,  "  in  the  failure  of  this 
hope,  a  deadly  blast  of  all  my  peace  of  mind 
during  my  remaining  days."  But  he  was  spared 
a  disappointment  so  severe.  The  opposition 
was  feeble  and  the  authorizing  bill  passed  both 
Houses  by  very  gratifying  majorities.  The 
scheme,  however,  was  not  carried  out.  When 
the  news  of  it  spread  through  the  country 
many  offers  of  money  were  made.  Public 
meetings  were  called,  and  subscriptions  were 
started  in  the  large  cities.  It  seemed  as  though 
the  people  who,  as  Randall  justly  remarks,  had 
literally  eaten  up  most  of  the  ex-President's 
property,  would  now  restore  it  to  him.  Jeffer- 
son had  repudiated  the  idea  of  a  loan  or  gift 

22 


338  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

from  the  state  treasury,  saying :  "  In  any  case 
I  wish  nothing  from  the  treasury.  The  pecu- 
niary compensations  I  have  received  for  my 
services  from  time  to  time  have  been  fully  to 
my  own  satisfaction,"  But  these  offers  of  vol- 
untary assistance  from  the  people  he  was  grate- 
fully willing  to  accept.  "  I  have  spent  three 
times  as  much  money,  and  given  my  whole  life 
to  my  countrymen,"  he  said,  "  and  now  they 
nobly  come  forward  in  the  only  way  they  can, 
to  repay  me  and  save  an  old  servant  from  be- 
ing turned  like  a  dog  out  of  doors."  "  No  cent 
of  this  is  wrung  from  the  tax-payer  ;  it  is  the 
pure  and  unsolicited  offering  of  love." 

But  though  this  liberality  smoothed  Jeffer- 
son's last  days,  it  had  little  other  effect ;  for 
before  it  had  reached  that  stage  at  which  it 
could  complete  his  relief,  he  died.  The  debts 
still  hung  over  his  estate  ;  the  subscriptions 
of  course  ceased ;  the  lottery  proved  a  failure, 
and  the  executor  had  to  dispose  of  all  the  as- 
sets. The  lands  brought  ridiculously  low  prices, 
—  three  to  ten  dollars  per  acre,  —  and  the  pro- 
ceeds did  not  pay  the  debts.  But  the  executor 
himself  made  good  the  deficit,  so  that  no  cred- 
itor suffered  through  Jefferson's  misfortunes. 

The  chief  interest  and  occupation  of  Jeffer- 
son's last  years  were  concentrated  in  establish- 
ing the  University  of  Virginia,  of  which  he 


AT  MONTICELLO:  PERSONAL  MATTERS.    339 

was  made  Rector.  In  this  business  he  labored 
with  assiduity  and  success.  But  he  encoun- 
tered many  obstacles  and  had  some  unworthy 
mortifications.  He  was  especially  vexed  at  the 
story  which  got  abroad,  and  which  impeded  his 
efforts  not  a  little,  that  he  designed  to  give 
the  college  an  anti-Christian  character.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  he  had  no  such  purpose ; 
though  he  certainly  did  not  intend  it  to  be  in 
the  control  of  any  especial  creed.  Jefferson's 
religious  opinions,  both  during  his  life-time  and 
since  his  death,  have  given  rise  to  much  contro- 
versy. His  opponents  constantly  charged  him 
with  infidelity,  his  friends  as  vigorously  denied 
the  charge.  The  discussion  annoyed  and  irri^ 
tated  him ;  but  he  would  not  put  an  end  to  it 
by  making  any  statement  concerning  his  belief. 
It  was  his  private  affair,  he  said  with  some 
temper,  and  he  would  not  aid  in  establishing 
an  inquisition  of  conscience.  His  grandson  says 
that  even  his  own  family  knew  no  more  than 
the  rest  of  the  world  concerning  his  religious 
opinions.  One  cannot  but  think  that,  had  he 
been  a  firm  believer  in  Christianity,  he  would 
probably  not  have  regarded  such  reticence  as 
justifiable,  but  would  have  felt  it  his  duty  to 
give  to  the  faith  the  weight  of  his  influence, 
which  he  well  knew  to  be  considerable.  Nearly 
all  the  evidence  which  has  been  collected  falls 


340  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

into  the  same  scale,  going  to  show  that  he  was 
not  a  Christian  in  any  strict  sense  of  that  word. 
It  is  true  that  the  phrase  bears  widely  differ- 
ent meanings  to  different  persons  ;  but  proba- 
bly the  most  liberal  admissible  interpretations 
would  hardly  make  it  apply  to  Jefferson.  Mr. 
Randall  says  that  he  was  a  Christian,  but 
founds  the  statement  on  evidence  which  goes 
to  show  only  that  Jefferson  believed  in  a  God 
or  Supreme  Being  who  concerned  himself  about 
the  affairs  of  men.  Of  course  this  is  by  no 
means  proof,  perhaps  not  properly  even  evi- 
dence, of  a  belief  in  Christ.  He  went  to  church 
with  tolerable  regularity  ;  he  spoke  with  the 
utmost  reverence  of  Christ  as  a  moral  teacher ; 
but  he  carefully  refrained  from  speaking  of 
him  as  anything  else  than  a  human  teacher. 
In  the  most  interesting  letter  which  he  ever 
wrote  on  the  subject,  he  says :  "  I  am  a  Chris- 
tian in  the  only  sense  in  which  he  [Jesus] 
wished  any  one  to  be  ;  sincerely  attached  to  his 
doctrines  in  preference  to  all  others ;  ascribing 
to  himself  every  human  excellence ;  and  be- 
lieving he  never  claimed  any  other."  He  com- 
pares Christ  with  Socrates  and  Epictetus,  and 
says  that  when  he  died  at  about  thirty-three 
years  of  age,  his  reason  had  "not  yet  attained 
the  maximum  of  its  energy,  nor  the  course  of 
his  preaching,  which  was  but  of  three  years  at 


AT  MONTICELLO:  PERSONAL  MATTERS.    341 

most,  presented  occasions  for  developing  a  com- 
plete system  of  morals.  Hence  the  doctrines 
which  he  really  delivered  were  defective  as  a 
whole  ;  and  fragments  only  of  what  he  did  de- 
liver have  come  to  us,  mutilated,  misstated,  and 
often  untelligible."  This  hardly  describes  the 
Christian  notion  of  God's  revelation.  After 
such  language  it  was  not  worth  while  to  add 
the  saving  clause,  that  "  the  question  of  his 
being  a  member  of  the  Godhead,  or  in  direct 
communication  with  it,  ...  is  foreign  to  the 
present  view."  To  my  mind  it  is  very  clear 
that  Jefferson  never  believed  that  Christ  was 
other  than  a  human  moralist,  having  no  pe- 
culiar inspiration  or  divine  connection,  and  dif- 
fering from  other  moralists  only  as  Shakespeare 
differs  from  other  dramatists,  namely,  as  greatly 
their  superior  in  ability  and  fitness  for  his  func- 
tion. But  those  admirers  of  Jefferson,  who 
themselves  believe  in  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
will  probably  refuse  to  accept  this  view,  though 
they  find  themselves  without  sufficient  evidence 
conclusively  to  confute  it. 

Jefferson,  in  his  later  years,  became  much 
concerned  about  the  proper  historical  presenta- 
tion of  his  times,  and  of  the  part  played  by 
himself  and  his  party  therein.  He  was  proba- 
bly the  greatest  letter  writer  who  ever  lived  ; 
he  always  wrote  freely,  and  expressed  himself 


342  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

vigorously.  The  latter  part  of  his  life  was  made 
a  burden  by  his  rule  to  give  a  full  and  sufficient 
answer  to  every  civil  letter  which  he  received. 
Inevitably  he  sometimes  fell  into  inconsistencies 
and  errors  ;  and  sometimes  said  things  which 
he  would  afterward  wish  unsaid.  At  times  the 
thought  of  all  that  he  had  committed  to  paper 
alarmed  him,  and  he  declared  that  "  the  treach- 
erous practice  some  people  have  of  publishing 
one's  letters  without  leave "  should  be  made 
"  a  penitentiary  felony."  Yet  generally  he  re- 
garded his  own  letters,  "all  preserved,"  written 
between  1790  and  the  close  of  his  public  life, 
as  a  great  reservoir  from  which  correct  infor- 
mation could  be  drawn  by  posterity.  He  spoke 
with  extreme  acrimony  of  Marshall's  "  Life  of 
Washington,"  as  a  purely  partisan  production. 
He  was  very  much  disturbed  at  the  prospect  of 
J.  Q.  Adams  editing  the  writings  of  John  Ad- 
ams. "Doubtless,"  lie  said,  "other  things  are 
in  preparation,  unknown  to  us.  On  our  part 
we  are  depending  on  truth  to  make  itself  known, 
while  history  is  taking  a  contrary  set  which 
may  become  too  inveterate  for  correction." 
Shortly  before  his  death  he  wrote  to  Madison : 
"  To  myself  you  have  been  a  pillar  of  support 
through  life.  Take  care  of  me  when  dead." 
All  this  anxiety  lest  the  posthumous  historical 
literature  of  the  Federalists  should  have  an  in- 


AT  MONTICELLO:  PERSONAL  MATTERS.    343 

fluence  with  posterity  superior  to  that  6f  the 
Democrats,  comes  rather  queerly  from  one  who 
had  the  "  Anas  "  secretly  locked  up  in  his  desk. 
Yet  his  fears  were  justified  by  the  event ;  the 
Federalists  have  to  this  day  been  more  success- 
ful than  the  Republicans  in  getting  their  side 
forcibly  and  plausibly  before  the  reading  public. 
The  weaknesses  of  old  age  crept  over  Jeffer- 
son very  gradually,  as  they  are  wont  to  do  over 
sound  and  vigorous  men.  He  had  great  dread 
of  a  helpless,  and  especially  of  an  imbecile,  se- 
nility, and  watched  for  signs  of  mental  decay 
with  an  almost  morbid  apprehensiveness.  Cer- 
tainly he  suspected  more  symptoms  of  this  evil 
than  really  existed ;  for  though  inevitably  the 
vigor  of  his  intellect  became  impaired  in  his 
extreme  years,  yet  the  clearness  of  his  mind  re- 
mained even  until  the  weakness  of  the  closing 
hours  began  to  deprive  him  of  all  knowledge 
of  things  earthly.  There  is  very  little  com- 
plaining, at  least  in  the  published  letters  written 
in  his  last  years ;  but  there  is  a  certain  air  of 
sombreness  and  melancholy.  He  could  not  well 
find  fault  with  the  career  which  had  been  allot- 
ted to  him;  but  he  could  hardly  recognize 
cheerfully  that  his  usefulness  was  over,  his  au- 
thority a  thing  of  the  past,  himself,  while  still 
alive,  almost  a  character  of  history.  His  power 
had  been  too  great  to  be  cheerfully  laid  down. 


344  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

He  appears  to  have  been  resigned,  courage- 
ous, tranquil,  and  yet  one  gets  the  idea  that  as 
he  drifted  away  from  active  affairs  he  was  not 
happy,  and  that  death  must  have  lost  its  ter- 
rors for  him  some  time  before  it  actually  came. 
The  winter  of  1826  found  him  evidently  fast 
breaking.  In  the  middle  of  March  he  made 
his  will.  In  the  spring  we  hear  of  him  reading 
in  the  Bible,  and  the  Greek  tragedies ;  but  he 
was  not  much  longer  able  to  do  even  this.  As 
the  4th  of  July,  1826,  approached  he  was 
known  by  himself,  and  by  all  the  affectionate 
family-circle  gathered  around  him,  to  be  dying. 
He  expressed  a  strong  desire  to  live  until  that 
day  should  dawn ;  yet  he  seemed  so  weak,  and 
the  last  laggard  hours  moved  so  slowly  that  his 
friends,  to  whom  this  wish  of  his  seemed  to 
have  such  a  sanctity  that  they  could  not  bear 
to  have  him  disappointed,  even  in  the  almost 
unconscious  hour  of  departure,  feared  that  he 
would  not  endure  so  long.  But  life  ebbed 
slowly  from  that  strong  frame.  It  was  nearly 
one  o'clock  on  that  great  day  when  he  expired. 
John  Adams  was  dead  at  Quincy  a  few  hours 
earlier,  with  the  words,  "  Thomas  Jefferson 
still  survives,"  struggling  from  his  lips  at  the 
moment  before  they  became  silent  forever. 
The  triple  coincidence  is  more  singular  than 
anything  else  of  the  kind  in  history. 


INDEX. 


ADAMS,  JOHN,  share  in  author- 
ship  of  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, 33;  hostility  to  Washing- 
ton, 35;  unpopularity  of,  35; 
share  in  debate  on  Declaration, 
38 ;  finds  fault  with  Declaration, 
39 ;  charged  by  Jefferson  with 
being  a  monarchist,  127 ;  mis- 
understanding with  Jefferson, 
growing  out  of  publication  of 
r'  Rights  of  Man,"  131  ;  elected 
President,  173,  174 ;  relations 
with  Jefferson  at  time  of  his 
inauguration,  177-179  ;  anger 
against  France,  180 ;  but  sends 
new  mission,  in  hopes  of  peace, 
181 ;  announces  failure  of  French 
mission,  188  ;  behavior  concern- 
ing the  X  Y  Z  correspondence, 
189 ;  sends  new  mission  to  France, 
and  divides  Federalist  party,  193  ; 
defeated  in  election  of  1800,  200 ; 
his  "midnight  appointments," 
209;  his  retreat  from  Washing- 
ton, 210;  nominations  of  judges, 
221  ;  reconciliation  with  Jeffer- 
son, 327 ;  death,  344. 

Adams,  John  Q.,  writes  letters  of 
Publicola,  132  ;  goes  over  to  the 
administrationists  at  time  of  the 
Embargo  Bill,  300. 

Alien  Act,  passage  of,  193. 

Ambuscade,  captures    the  Grange, 

"  Anas,"  written  by  Jefferson,  109, 
113  ;  quoted,  115,  121,  125,  126. 

BISHOP,  SAMUEL,  appointment  of ,  224. 
Bonaparte,  Napoleon,   schemes  for 

colonization    in     America,     245; 

issues   decrees     of     Berlin    and 

Milan,  296 ;    remarks  about   the 

embargo,  312. 
Botetourt,     Lord,     dissolves      the 

House  of  Burgesses,  18. 


Burr,  Aaron,  in  the  third  presi- 
dental  election,  174 ;  vote  for,  in 
electoral  colleges  in  1800,  200  ; 
schemes  for  making  him  Presi- 
dent instead  of  Jefferson,  204; 
his  own  behavior  and  its  results, 
207  ;  loses  nomination  for  vice- 
presidency,  269;  enterprise  in 
the  Southwest,  280 ;  circum- 
stances of  his  trial,  281-284  ; 
legislative  results  of  the  trial  of, 
285. 

CALLENDER,  his  connection  and  sub- 
sequent quarrel  with  Jefferson, 
225-230 ;  the  slanderer  of  Wash- 
ington and  Hamilton,  226. 

Canning,  disingenuous  behavior  of, 
in  the  Chesapeake  affair,  300  ; 
remarks  about  the  embargo,  312. 

Chase,  Judge,  impeachment  of, 
260-263. 

Chatham,  Lord,  Comments  on  Co- 
lonial Congress,  26. 

Chesapeake,  The,  fired  into  by  the 
Leopard,  296. 

Church  Establishment,  assailed  by 
Jefferson,  45-47. 

Clarke,  George  Rogers,  captures 
Colonel  Hamilton,  58. 

Clinton,  George,  nominated  for 
vice-presidency,  269. 

Committees  of  Correspondence, 
prior  to  the  Revolution,  origin  of, 
19. 

Cornwallis,  Lord,  marches  upon 
Virginia,  57,  60;  repeats  this 
movement  and  comes  to  Peters- 
burg, 64 ;  pillages  Jefferson's 
farm,  66. 

Cuba,  Jefferson's  views  concerning, 
322. 

DECLARATION  of  Independence.  See 
Independence. 


346 


INDEX. 


Democratic  party,  the  origin  of, 
145 ;  sympathizes  with  French 
Revolution,  146  ;  the  prospects  of, 
at  accession  of  Jefferson,  213-216  ; 
progress  of,  in  New  England, 
217 ;  remarks  concerning  it  at 
close  of  Jefferson's  first  term, 
265  ;  signs  of  division  in,  270  ; 
gains  in  autumn  of  1806,  292.  See 
Republican  party, 

Dickinson,  amends  Jefferson's  mani- 
festo, 27,  28,  note. 

EMBARGO,  recommended,  298 ;  sketch 
of  Jefferson's  connection  with  the 
measure,  298 ;  bill  passed,  301 ;  re- 
marks concerning  it,  especially  its 
effect  upon  England,  301-306 ;  do- 
mestic effects  of,  306  ;  at  first 
well  received,  308  ;  Federalist 
views  of,  301,  309  ;  threatened  op- 
position to,  310,  313 ;  remarks  of 
Canning  and  Bonaparte  about, 
312. 

Entails,  abolished  in  Virginia,  43. 

FAUQUIER,  FRANCIS,  Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, a  friend  of  Jefferson,  8. 

Feuno,  edits  the  "Gazette,"  133. 

Franklin,  Dr.  Benjamin,  in  Con- 
gress, 26  ;  share  in  authorship  of 
Declaration  of  Independence,  33 ; 
share  in  proceedings  concerning 
adoption  of  the  Declaration,  38. 

Freneau,  Philip,  story  of  his  estab- 
lishment of  the  "National  Ga- 
zette "  and  his  connection  with 
Jefferson,  132-136, 139. 

GALLATIN,  ALBERT,  advice  of  Jeffer- 
son to,  323 ;  friendship  of  Jeffer- 
son for,  323. 

Gaspee,  burning  of  the,  19. 

Genet,  lands  in  Charleston,  149; 
equips  privateers,  151, 156  ;  makes 
triumphant  journey  to  Philadel- 
phia, 152  ;  rebuked  by  Jefferson, 
155, 156, 158  ;  his  lawless  conduct, 
156  ;  excites  Jefferson's  indigna- 
tion, 158-160 ;  criticises  Jefferson, 
160. 

Gerry,  appointed  to  French  mission, 
181 ;  accepts,  182 ;  stay  in  Paris, 
187,  188. 

Giles,  introduces  resolutions  to  cen- 
sure Hamilton,  122 ;  defends  Jef- 
ferson's report  on  commerce,  167. 

Grange,  The,  captured  by  the  Am- 
buscade, 152 ;  reparation  demand- 
ed, 155. 


HAMILTON,  ALEXANDER,  position  in 
Washington's  cabinet,  97  ;  manip- 
ulates the  matter  of  assumption 
of  state  debts,  97-100;  influence 
of  his  measures,  102  ;  his  financial 
system  criticised  by  Jefferson, 
104-106  ;  relations  with  Jefferson, 
107-109  ;  charged  with  monarchi- 
cal schemes,  113,  115,  138;  pre- 
pares argument  in  support  of  na- 
tional bank,  119;  charged  with 
schemes  of  corruption,  121,  125, 
126,  127,  138  ;  resolutions  for  cen- 
suring, 122 ;  charged  with  wish- 
ing to  make  national  debt  perpet- 
ual, 122,  125,  126,  138  ;  report  on 
manufactures,  126 ;  alleged  re- 
marks about  the  Constitution, 
126 ;  attacks  Jefferson  in  news- 
papers under  name  of  "  An  Amer- 
ican," 135 ;  reply  to  Washington, 
136  ;  sentiments  concerning  the 
French  Revolution,  146,  147,  152 ; 
defends  Jay's  treaty,  170 ;  uses 
his  influence  to  make  Jefferson 
President,  205  ;  the  Reynolds 
amour,  226. 

Hamilton,  Colonel,  captured  and 
put  in  irons,  58,  and  note. 

Hancock,  John,  anecdote  of,  when 
signing  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, 38. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  signs  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  anecdote, 
39. 

Henry,  Patrick,  a  personal  friend  of 
Jefferson,  17  ;  treatment  of  Jef- 
ferson's draft  of  instructions,  21 ; 
first  governor  of  Virginia,  55,  56, 

INDEPENDENCE,  Lee's  motion  in  favor 
of,  32  ;  resolution  in  favor  of,  car- 
ried, 35,  36  ;  appointment  of  com- 
mittee to  draft  Declaration  of,  33 ; 
account  of  this  drafting,  33  ;  de- 
bate on  the  Declaration,  36-38; 
anecdotes  of  final  signature  of 
Declaration,  38  ;  unfair  criticisms 
on  form  of  Declaration,  39,  40. 

JACOBINS,  name  assumed  by  some 
democrats  hi  the  United  States, 
154  ;  Jefferson's  sentiments  to- 
wards the  American  clabs,  168. 

Jay,  John,  his  English  treaty,  169- 
171 ;  proposals  to  make  him  Presi- 
dent in  1800,  201,  202. 

Jefferson,  Peter,  his  career,  3,  4; 
connection  with  the  Randolphs,  3. 


INDEX. 


347 


Jefferson,  Thomas,  born,  2 ;  ances- 
try, 3 ;  appearance  and  habits  in 
youth,  4,  5 ;  goes  to  college,  5 ; 
habits  there,  G,  7  ;  reads  law,  7, 8 ; 
his  associates,  8  ;  his  youthful  cor- 
respondence and  love  affairs,  8, 
9;  marries,  9;  his  property,  10; 
career  at  the  bar,  10  ;  love  of 
farming,  1 1-15 ;  opinion  of  farm- 
ers as  compared  with  artificers, 
12  et  seq. ;  views  of  yellow  fever 
and  great  cities,  13 ;  wishes  United 
States  to  occupy  position  of  China, 
14 ;  his  utilitarianism  and  dreami- 
ness, 15  ;  his  romantic  graveyard, 
15  ;  relationship  with  Patrick 
Henry,  17  ;  first  election  to  House 
of  Burgesses,  18  ;  signs  non-im- 
portation agreement,  18;  a  sec- 
ond time  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Burgesses,  19  ;  action  upon 
hearing  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill, 
20  ;  an  advanced  patriot,  19,  20  ; 
member  of  Virginia  State  Conven- 
tion, 21 ;  his  draft  of  instructions 
for  Virginian  members  of  Con- 
gress, its  fate  and  contents,  21- 
24 ;  becomes  member  of  Colonial 
Congress,  24-26;  drafts  reply  of 
Virginia  to  Lord  North's  "con- 
ciliatory proposition,"  24 ;  drafts 
manifesto  after  battle  of  Bunker's 
Hill,  27  ;  drafts  reply  of  Congress 
to  Lord  North,  28  ;  returns  to 
State  Convention,  29  ;  reflected 
to  Congress,  29 ;  opinion  concern- 
ing separation  and  independence, 
29-31,  32  ;  letter  to  John  Ran- 
dolph, 30  ;  in  Congress,  31 ;  chair- 
man of  Committee  to  draft  Dec- 
laration of  Independence,  33 ; 
claim  to  authorship  of  Declara- 
tion, 33 ;  reason  of  his  prominent 
position  in  this  business,  34 ;  be- 
havior of,  during  debate  on  Dec- 
laration, 3G-38  ;  reply  to  criti- 
cisms on  Declaration,  40 ;  being 
reflected  to  Congress,  declines  to 
serve,  41 ;  interest  in  reforming 
internal  affairs  of  Virginia,  42; 
reports  bill  to  abolish  entails,  43  ; 
and  primogeniture,  44  ;  attack  on 
the  Established  Church,  45-47; 
his  religious  views,  45  ;  takes 
charge  of  general  revision  of  laws 
of  Virginia,  48-50  ;  efforts  to  do 
away  with  negro  slavery,  50-53  ; 
opinion  of  negroes,  53  ;  stops  im- 
portation of  slaves,  53;  elected 
governor  of  Virginia,  55;  ardu- 


ous duties,  56 ;  his  property  im- 
pressed, 57  ;  assailed  for  sending 
forces  out  of  the  State,  57  ;  puts 
Colonel  Hamilton  in  irons,  58; 
behavior  concerning  invasion  of 
Virginia,  61  et  seq.;  attempts  to 
capture  Arnold,  63 ;  resolves  not 
to  be  candidate  for  reelection,  63 ; 
his  term  expires,  but  he  has  to 
hold  over,  64;  driven  from  his 
house  by  Colonel  Tarlton,  65 ;  his 
farms  pillaged,  66  ;  threatened 
with  legislative  investigation,  67  ; 
his  defence,  and  final  exculpation, 
68;  harassed  by  public  criticism, 
70 ;  finishes  "  Notes  on  Virginia," 
70 ;  rebuked  by  Monroe,  70 ;  loses 
his  wife,  71 ;  adopts  children  of 
Dabney  Carr,  72  ;  list  of  his  chil- 
dren, 72  ;  affection  for  them, 
71,  72;  nominated  on  mission  to 
France,  72,  73  ;  chosen  a  member 
of  Congress,  73 ;  takes  part  in 
ratification  of  treaty  of  peace, 
74  ;  other  services  in  Congress, 
74  ;  suggests  substance  of  the  or- 
dinance of  the  Northwestern  Ter- 
ritory, 75 ;  suggests  extraordinary 
names  for  Northwestern  Territory, 
76 ;  leaves  Congress,  76  ;  a  fourth 
time  appointed  on  mission  to 
France  and  departs,  77  ;  his  situa- 
tion and  duties  in  France,  77-79  ; 
proposition  concerning  Algerine 
corsairs,  79;  makes  diplomatic 
visit  to  London,  79  ;  opinion  of 
English  feeling  towards  the  States, 
80-84 ;  changes  in  condition  of 
France  during  his  stay  there,  84  ; 
his  interest  and  concern  therein, 
85-87  ;  interview  with  Montmorin, 
86 ;  how  far  influenced  by  French 
ideas,  87 ;  returns  home,  88,  96 ; 
compares  Europe  with  the  United 
States,  89 ;  opinion  of  Shays'  in- 
surrection, 90;  opinion  as  to 
forms  of  government,  92  ;  opinion 
as  to  closer  union  of  the  States, 
92  ;  and  concerning  the  new  Con- 
stitution, 93-95 ;  accepts  offer  of 
secretaryship  of  state,  96  ;  share 
in  Hamilton's  scheme  for  carry- 
ing assumption  of  state  debts, 
97-100;  afterwards  regrets  hia 
behavior  and  attacks  Hamilton, 
100-102 ;  strange  notions  as  to 
national  debts,  103  ;  criticisms  on 
Hamilton's  financiering,  104-106 ; 
situation  in  Washington's  cabinet, 
106;  relations  with  Hamilton, 


348 


INDEX. 


107-109;  writes  the  "Anas," 
109 ;  faith  in  laxity  of  govern- 
ment, 111 ;  dread  of  the  Hamil- 
tonian  and  monarchical  parties, 
112-117,  124,  126,  127,  128; 
alarmed  at  successful  speculation 
of  Federalists,  117  ;  dissatisfied 
with  military  establishment,  118  ; 
with  excise,  118  ;  opposes  National 
Bank  Act,  118-121 ;  charges 
Hamilton  with  corruption,  121, 
124,  127  ;  sympathizes  with  res- 
olutions of  censure,  122 ;  de- 
scribes the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, 122,  125;  declares  that 
Hamilton  wishes  to  make  the 
national  debt  everlasting,  122, 
124,  125 ;  letter  to  Washington, 
reviewing  the  political  situation, 
123;  attacks  Hamilton's  report 
on  manufactures,  126 ;  asperses 
John  Adams,  127  ;  his  faith  in  the 
people,  128-131  ;  difficulty  grow- 
ing out  of  publication  of  "  Rights 
of  Man,"  131  ;  appoints  Freneau 
to  a  clerkship,  132,  133;  and 
gets  into  difficulties  thereby,  134- 
136;  his  famous  letter  to  Wash- 
ington, 136-141  ;  his  manner  of 
conducting  his  opposition  to 
Hamilton,  141-143 ;  admitted 
leader  of  the  anti-Federalist  or 
Republican  party,  144 ;  sympa- 
thizes with  the  French  Revolu- 
tionists, 147  ;  sentiments  as  to 
neutrality  proclamation,  150,  151  ; 
feelings  towards  Attorney-Gen- 
eral Randolph,  150,  153;  behav- 
ior at  the  time  of  the  Genet 
reception,  152  ;  talk  about  Anglo- 
maniacs,  152;  antipathy  to  Eng- 
land, 153 ;  feelings  about  the 
Jacobins  and  the  French  massa- 
cres, 154  ;  rebukes  Genet,  155, 158  ; 
first  opinion  of  Genet,  155,  156  ; 
subsequent  changes  of  opinion, 
158-160  ;  advice  as  to  prepayment 
of  debt  to  France,  157 ;  sanguine 
expectations,  157,  destroyed  by 
Genet's  conduct,  159  ;  his  conduct 
during  Genet's  mission  reviewed, 
160-162;  efforts  to  resign,  163; 
unjustly  blamed  for  resigning,  164 ; 
plantation  life,  166  ;  expressions 
of  feeling  towards  Great  Britain, 
and  about  war,  166,  167  ;  assails 
the  Senate  for  rejecting  the  Non- 
Importation  Bill,  167  ;  his  report 
on  commerce,  167 ;  vexed  at 
Washington's  condemnation  of 


Jacobin  clubs,  168;  feelings  to- 
wards Washington,  168,  171,  177, 
186 ;  defends  the  whiskey  insur- 
rection, 169  ;  assails  Jay's  treaty, 
169-171  ;  his  dread  of  Hamilton, 
170,  176  ;  in  the  third  presidential 
election,  174  ;  protestations  about 
his  own  feelings,  175 ;  arrange- 
ments concerning  notice  of  elec- 
tion, etc.,  176 ;  anticipations  of 
Republican  supremacy,  176 ; 
schemes  for  influencing  Adams, 
177-179;  discussion  with  Adams 
concerning  French  mission,  178  ; 
French  interest  in  election  of 
Jefferson  to  presidency,  179 ; 
fears  trouble  with  France,  181 ; 
urges  Gerry  to  accept  French 
mission,  182 ;  sketches  state  of 
feeling  at  the  capital,  182  ;  letter 
to  Mazzei,  183-185  ;  behavior  at 
time  of  X  Y  Z  correspondence, 
180  ;  draws  Kentucky  Resolutions, 
193  ;  rebukes  secession  doctrines 
of  others,  194  ;  expectations  as  to 
elections  of  1800,  195 ;  slander- 
ously assailed  in  the  presidential 
campaign,  196 ;  drills  the  Repub- 
lican, or  Democratic,  party,  197- 
199;  vote  for,  in  electoral  col- 
leges, 1800,  200 ;  anxiety  and  be- 
havior during  election  by  House  of 
Representatives,  200-205 ;  elected, 
205 ;  charged  with  having  made 
terms,  206 ;  behavior  towards 
Burr,  207 ;  inauguration,  210 ; 
interview  with  Mr.  Merry,  211 ; 
opinion  as  to  political  outlook, 
212-216,  218;  feeling  towards 
New  England,  216  ;  antipathy  to- 
wards the  clergy,  217  ;  action 
concerning  the  filling  of  offices, 
218 ;  and  as  to  removals  from 
office,  219-224 ;  removal  of  J.  Q. 
Adams,  223;  his  appointments, 
224 ;  rule,  in  such  matters  con- 
cerning political  activity,  224; 
appointment  of  Samuel  Bishop, 
224  ;  story  of  his  connection  and 
quarrel  with  Callender,  225-230; 
opinion  of  the  Sedition  law,  227  ; 
values  highly  the  right  of  navi- 
gating the  Mississippi,  232;  de- 
mands the  use  of  a  port  at  the 
river's  mouth,  233-235;  faintly 
foreshadows  Monroe  doctrine, 
235 ;  objects  to  France  regaining 
Louisiana,  236,  237-239  ;  difficul- 
ties in  way  of  his  plans  for  gain- 
ing Louisiana,  239-241  ;  receives 


INDEX. 


authority  and  money  from  Con- 
gress,    242 ;     instructs     Monroe, 

243  ;  letter  to  Dupont  de  Nemours, 

244  ;   entitled  to  credit  for  pur- 
chase of  Louisiana,  246  ;  answers 
to  the   various  objections  raised 
to  the  purchase,  247-250;    plan 
for  colonization,  248  ;  for  taking 
possession,  249 ;  led    into  incon- 
sistencies    by    this    transaction, 
251  ;  remarks  about  states'  rights 
and  secession  hi  this  connection, 
253-255  ;    justification      for    his 
course,  255;    efforts  to  obtain  a 
constitutional    ratification,    256- 
258  ;   personal    animosities,    259  ; 
message  concerning  Judge  Picker- 
ing,  259  ;    share  in  the  impeach- 
ment of  Judge  Chase,  260-263  ;  re- 
view of  his  position  and  record  at 
close  of  his  first  term,  263-268  ; 
nominated  for  a  second  term,  268  ; 
his  feelings  about  a  second  term, 
269  ;    elected,  271 ;    his   sanguine 
anticipations,  272  ;  change  of  feel- 
fag  towards  France  and  England, 
273-276  ;  designs  for  purchase  of 
Florida,  276  ;  disturbed  by  defec- 
tion of    Randolph,  277,  278 ;  be- 
havior concerning  Burr's   enter- 
prise, 280  ;  and  subsequently  dur- 
ing Burr's  trial,  281-284  ;  abused 
by  Luther  Martin,  282  ;  strictures 
on    Judge    Marshall's  summons, 
283-285;  communication  to  Con- 
gress   concerning    the    trial    of 
Burr,  285  :  sentiments  concerning 
French  and   English  breaches  of 
American   neutrality,    286,  287  ; 
carries  through  a   Non-Importa- 
tion Act,  288  ;  conciliatory  course 
towards  England,  289  ;   his  gun- 
boats,    290,      292,     298 ;     anger 
against    Spain  concerning  Louis- 
iana, 291  ;  political  theory  about 
the  Gulf  Stream,  291  ;   sanguine 
message   of    December    1,    1806, 
292  ;  remarks  concerning  internal 
improvements,  292-294,  329,  330  ; 
recommends  suspension  of  Non- 
Importation  Act,  294,  295  ;  rejects 
treaty  of  Monroe  and  Piuckney 
with  England,  294  ;  remarks  and 
doings  concerning  the   Leopard- 
Chesapeake     outrage,    296-298; 
message  to  extra  session  of  Con- 
gress in  October,  1807, 298  ;  recom- 
mends an  embargo,  298;  arguments 
in  its  favor,  302;  inconsistency,  306; 
his  supremacy  over  Congress  and 


the  country,  308 ;  course  of  his 
opinion  about  the  embargo,  310- 
316 ;  message  about  it  in  Novem- 
ber, 1808,  311 ;  repudiates  respon- 
sibility, 316 ;  influence  concerning 
choice  of  his  own  successor  in  the 
presidency,  317  ;  urged  to  accept 
a  third  presidential  term,  318 ; 
popularity  with  the  masses,  318- 
320  ;  relations  with  Madison,  321 ; 
advice  as  to  treaty  with  Eng- 
land, 322  ;  expectations  concern- 
ing Florida  and  Cuba,  322  ;  modi- 
fied opinions  concerning  com- 
merce and  manufactures,  322, 
323 ;  advice  to  Gallatin  concern- 
fag  national  debt,  323  ;  friendship 
for  Gallatin,  323  ;  anticipations 
concerning  war  with  England, 
323-325 ;  urged  to  become  candi- 
date for  presidency  fa  1812,  325  ; 
offered  secretaryship  of  state, 
325  ;  friendly  sentiments  towards 
England,  326  ;  reconciliation  with 
John  Adams,  327  ;  alarm  concern- 
ing Missouri  Compromise,  327  ; 
and  forebodings  of  civil  war,  328 ; 
regards  the  compromise  as  incon- 
sistent with  states'  rights,  328 ; 
hostility  to  the  judiciary,  329; 
the  sage  of  Monticello,  331 ;  hos- 
pitality at  Monticello,  331-333; 
payment  of  pre-revolutionary  Eng- 
lish debt,  334  ;  financial  affairs, 
335,  and  embarrassments,  335- 
338  ;  connection  with  University 
of  Virginia,  338  ;  opinions  con- 
cerning Christianity,  339-341; 
anxiety  concerning  historical  pres- 
entation of  his  times,  341-343; 
opinion  of  Marshall's  "Life  of 
Washington,"  342;  failing  health, 
343 ;  death,  344. 

KENTUCKY  RESOLUTIONS,  drafted  by 
Jetterson,  193. 

Knox,  General,  a  partisan  of  Ham- 
ilton fa  Washington's  cabinet, 
150. 

LEANDER,  THE,  outrage  committed 
by,  288,  289. 

Lee,  Richard  Henry,  moves  that 
Congress  declare  the  Colonies  in- 
dependent, 32;  reasons  why  he 
was  not  chairman  of  committee 
for  drafting  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, 34. 

Leopard,  The,  fires  into  the  Chesa- 
peake, 296. 


350 


INDEX. 


Leslie,  General,  invades  Virginia, 
59,  GO. 

Lincoln,  Levi,  interrupts  Marshall 
in  signature  of  commissions,  209. 

Livingston,  services  of,  concerning 
purchase  of  Louisiana,  242,  243. 

Louisiana,  objections  to  France  re- 
gaining from  Spain,  236,  237-239  ; 
but  it  is  ceded,  237;  Napoleon 
proposes  to  sell,  246;  purchased 
by  United  States,  246  ;  constitu- 
tional and  other  objections  to  pur- 
chase of,  247,  253;  threats  of 
trouble  concerning  eastern  bound- 
ary, 276,  291. 

MADISON,  JAMES,  aids  Jefferson  in 
reforming  laws  of  Virginia,  43  ; 
blames  Jefferson,  70 ;  urges  Jef- 
ferson to  accept  secretaryship  of 
state,  96 ;  recommends  Freneau 
to  Jefferson ,  133  ;  defends  Jeffer- 
son's report  on  commerce,  167  ; 
urged  to  encounter  Hamilton  con- 
cerning Jay's  treaty,  170 ;  sug- 
gested for  French  mission,  178, 
179 ;  draws  Virginia  resolutions, 
194  ;  at  interview  of  Jefferson  and 
Merry,  211 ;  suggested  as  a  suc- 
cessor to  Jefferson  in  the  presi- 
dency, 317  ;  relations  with  Jeffer- 
son, 321 ;  offers  to  make  Jefferson 
Secretary  of  State,  325. 

Marshall,  John,  opinion  upholding 
constitutionality  of  national  bank, 
119  ;  appointed  to  French  mission, 
181 ;  stay  in  Paris,  187,  188  ;  pro- 
posals to  make  him  President  in 
1800,  201,  202  ;  last  acts  as  Secre- 
tary of  State,  209 ;  at  the  trial  of 
Aaron  Burr,  282,  283  ;  Jefferson's 
opinion  of  his  "  Life  of  Washing- 
ton," 342. 

Martin,  Luther,  behavior  of,  as 
counsel  for  Aaron  Burr,  282. 

Mason,  George,  aids  Jefferson  in 
reforming  the  laws  of  Virginia, 
43. 

Mazzei,  Jefferson's  famous  letter  to, 
183. 

Merry,  the  British  minister,  inter- 
view with  Jefferson,  211. 

Mississippi,  the,  Spanish  ownership 
and  American  claims,  232. 

Missouri  Compromise,  opinion  of 
Jefferson  about,  327  :  inconsistent 
with  Jefferson's  states'  rights  the- 
ories, 328. 

Monroe,  James,  rebukes  Jefferson, 
70 ;  return  from  French  mission, 


180 ;  dispatched  to  France  to  buy 
New  Orleans,  243  ;  his  doings  in 
this  business,  245,  246  ;  minister 
in  England,  289  ;  makes  treaty, 
which  is  rejected  by  Jefferson,  294, 
295  ;  favored  by  Jefferson  for  suc- 
cession to  presidency,  317. 

Monroe  Doctrine,  the,  faintly  fore- 
shadowed by  Jefferson,  235. 

Montmorin,  Count,  interview  with 
Jefferson,  86. 

"  NATIONAL  GAZETTE,"  the,  estab- 
lished by  Freneau,  133  ;  befriend- 
ed by  Jefferson,  134 ;  Jefferson's 
account  of,  139. 

New  England,  feeling  of  Jefferson 
towards,  216. 

New  Orleans,  Jefferson's  views  con- 
cerning, 234  ;  privilege  of  deposit 
at,  cut  off,  239. 

Nicholas,  George,  moves  investiga- 
tion of  Jefferson's  conduct  as  Gov- 
ernor, 67. 

Nicholas,  W.  C.,  amends  Jefferson's 
reply  to  Lord  North,  24  ;  hastens 
Jefferson's  financial  ruin,  321. 

Non-Importation  Act  passed,  288  ; 
suspended,  294,  295. 

PAGE,  JOHN,  correspondent  of  Jef- 
ferson. 9  ;  competitor  for  govern- 
orship'of  Virginia,  1778-79,  55. 

Paine,  Thomas,  publishes  "Common 
Sense,"  32 ;  effect  of  his  "  Rights 
of  Man,"  128 ;  it  makes  trouble 
between  Adams  and  Jefferson, 
131. 

Pickering,  Judge,  impeachment  of, 
259. 

Pickering,  Timothy,  finds  fault  with 
Declaration  of  Independence,  39. 

Pinckney,  C.  C.,  vote  for,  in  electo- 
ral colleges  in  1800,  200. 

Pinckney,  Thomas,  in  the  third 
presidential  election,  173,  174. 

Primogeniture  abolished  in  Virginia, 
44. 

RANDOLPH,  EDMUND,  Attorney-Gen- 
eral in  Washington's  cabinet,  97  ; 
behavior  and  position  in  cabinet 
concerning  relations  with  France 
and  England,  150,  151,  153. 

Randolph,  Jane,  marries  Peter  Jef- 
ferson, 3. 

Randolph,  John,  Jefferson's  letter 
to,  30;  services  of,  concerning 
purchase  of  Louisiana,  241,  251 ; 
part  in  the  impeachment  of  Judge 


INDEX. 


351 


Chase,  262,  263  ;  secedes  from  the 
adrninistrationists,  277-279;  alli- 
ance with  New  England  mer- 
chants at  time  of  French  and 
English  maritime  outrages,  288. 

Randolph,  Peyton,  President  of  Vir- 
ginia State  Convention,  21 ;  leaves 
Colonial  Congress,  24. 

Randolph,  William,  friendship  with 
Peter  Jefferson,  3. 

"Recorder"  The,  of  Richmond, 
slanders  Jefferson,  under  influence 
of  Callender,  228. 

Republican  party,  the,  origin  of,  144  ; 
condition  of,  in  election  of  1800, 
197-199.  See  Democratic  party. 

"Rights  of  Man."  See  Paine, 
Thomas. 

Rutledge,  Edward,  in  Congress,  26. 

SEDITION  ACT,  passage  of,  193. 

Shays'  insurrection,  Jefferson's 
opinion  of,  90. 

Skelton,  Mrs.  Bathurst,  Jefferson 
marries,  9. 

Slavery,  efforts  to  abolish  in  Vir- 
ginia, 50-53 ;  Jefferson's  opinion 
concerning,  50-53. 

Small,  William,  Jefferson's  instruct- 
or and  friend,  6,  8. 

TALLEYRAND,  disgraceful  advances  to 
American  commissioners,  188  ;  ex- 
plains, and  seeks  renewal  of  nego- 
tiations, 192. 

Tucker,  Professor,  defence  of  Colo- 
nel Hamilton,  57. 


UNITED  STATES,  hatred  towards,  in 
England,  80 ;  abused  in  English 
newspapers,  81. 

University  of  Virginia,  Jefferson's 
relations  with,  338. 

WASHINGTON,  GEORGE,  hostility  to, 
35 ;  orders  concerning  treatment 
of  British  prisoners,  58;  makes 
Jefferson  Secretary  of  State,  96; 
composition  of  his  cabinet,  97, 106; 
rejects  Jefferson's  stories  of  mon- 
archical plots,  115,  116 ;  annoyed 
at  discussions  in  cabinet,  123  :  at- 
tacked by  Freneau  in  the  "Na- 
tional Gazette,"  134;  endeavors 
to  reconcile  Hamilton  and  Jeffer- 
son, 136 ;  opposes  Jefferson's  res- 
ignation, 163,  164 ;  condemns  the 
democratic  Jacobin  clubs,  168; 
Jefferson's  feeling  towards,  168, 
171,  177,  186 ;  and  the  Mazzei  let- 
ter, 185 ;  feelings  of  Adams  and 
Pickering  towards,  186. 

Wayles,  John,  Jefferson's  father-in- 
law,  dies,  10. 

William  and  Mary  College,  Jeffer- 
son a  student  in,  5. 

Williamsburg,  appearance  of,  in 
1760,  5. 

Wythe,  George,  the  law  office  of,  7, 
8;  aids  Jefferson  in  reforming 
laws  of  Virginia,  43  ;  emancipates 
his  slaves,  50. 

X  YZ,  the  so-called,  correspond- 
ence, 189,  192. 


STANDARD  AND  POPULAR 


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Baddeck,  and  that  Sort  of  Thing.     $1.00. 

My  Winter  on  the  Nile.     I2mo,  $2.00. 

In  the  Levant.     I2mo,  $2.00. 

Being  a  Boy.     Illustrated.    $1.50. 

In  the  Wilderness.    75  cents. 

William  A.  Wheeler. 

Dictionary  of  the  Noted  Names  of  Fiction.    $2.(XX 

Edwin  P.  Whipple. 

Works.    Critical  Essays.    6  vols.,  $9.00. 

Richard  Grant  White. 

Every-Day  English.     I2mo,  $2.00. 
Words  and  their  Uses.     I2mo,  $2.00. 
England  Without  and  Within.     I2mo,  $2.00. 
Shakespeare's  Complete  Works.  3  vols.  cr.Svo.   (InPreu.) 

Mrs.  A.  D.  T.  Whitney. 

Faith  Gartney's  Girlhood.     I2mo,  £1.50. 
Hitherto.     I2mo,  $1.50. 
Patience  Strong's  Outings.     I2mo,  £1.50. 
The  Gayworthys.     I2mo,  $1.50. 


16    Houghton,  Mifflin  and  Go's  Catalogue. 

Leslie  Goldthwaite.     Illustrated.     I2mo,  $1.50. 
We  Girls.     Illustrated.     I2mo,  $1.50. 
Real  Folks.     Illustrated.     I2mo,  $1.50. 
The  Other  Girls.     Illustrated.     I2mo,  $1.50. 
Sights  and  Insights.     2  vols.  I2mo,  $3.00. 
Odd  or  Even.    $1.50. 
Boys  at  Chequasset.    $1.50. 
Pansies.     Square  i6mo,  $1.50. 
Just  How.     i6mo,  $1.00. 

John  G.  Whittier. 

Poems.     Household  Edition.     Portrait.    $2.00. 

Cambridge  Edition.     Portrait.     3  vols.  crown  8vo,  $6.75. 

Red-Line  Edition.     Portrait.     12  illustrations.    $2.50. 

Diamond  Edition.     i8mo,  $1.00. 

Library  Edition.     Portrait.     32  illustrations.     8vo,  $4.00. 

Prose  Works.     Cambridge  Edition.     2  vols.  $4.50. 

John  Woolman's  Journal.    Introduction  by  Whittier.    $1.501 

Child  Life  in  Poetry.    Selected  by  Whittier.     Illustrated. 

$2.25.     Child  Life  in  Prose.     $2.25. 
Songs  of   Three   Centuries.     Selected   by  J.  G.    Whittier. 

Household  Edition.      I2mo,   $2.00.      Illustrated  Library 

Edition.    32  illustrations.     $4.00. 

Justin  Winsor. 

Reader's  Handbook  of  the  American  Revolution.     i6mo, 
$1-25.  ; 

A  catalogue  containing  portraits  of  many  of  the  above 
authors,  with  a  description  of  their  works,  will  be  sent 
free,  on  application,  to  any  address, 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN   AND   COMPANY,  BOSTON,  MAS.S 


DATE  DUE 


flllft  1 


AUG 


RFP'n 


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3  2106  00059  8240 


